Critic: New York TV Station’s Storm Coverage Became “Cruel” With Video Of People Falling On Ice

(By Mark Joyella, Mediaite) - It’s a fine line between highlighting a story, and enjoying it. At least, that’s how 'New York Daily News' TV Editor Richard Huff sees it after watching WCBS-TV’s coverage of this week’s ice storm. The station, CBS’ owned-and-operated flagship, set up a camera near an icy patch of sidewalk and watched (and recorded) as person after person slipped on the ice and fell. “Is it fair –or even human–to stand nearby, let folks walk into a video trap, and then put them on the air?”

Huff notes that the folks who fell on the ice included an elderly man–the station never alerting anyone that the spot was dangerous–and raises the question “at what point is the coverage of slippery conditions just cruel?”