I need your help with a Dateline NBC story.......

I understand that what comes, comes. It's just that, well...the media has such a wonderful way of twist--er, exploiting--the most innocuous points of a story to give melodrama, or to steer public opinion. Sure, if it's up to me, I'd rather have an expert than J.Q. Redneck, who's just cashing in on having an old knife from his Pop's trunk, but all the knowledge and facts and dignity won't make a whit's worth of difference if it a) isn't mentioned, and b) isn't presented rationally, within the context of the story.

What strikes me as curious is the story in general. I mean, what's the hook? Tons of people kill themselves in every way imaginable, every day. Why the interest in this particular gentleman? I'll admit to ignorance of the story. So, educate me. What makes this person's death more tragic than the gentleman who lived three doors down from me, and hung himself in the bathtub, having to hold his knees up until he was unconscious to do it? I'm just curious, since it will probably fall to the small and mostly inconspicuous details to make the story. I mean, if this knife is so inconsequential to the story, why go to all the effort to track down the specifics? Why not just say, "He used a knife to kill himself," and be done with it? My suspicious side (that is to say, the part between my scalp and my ankles) just can't buy that it's a simple quest for detail.

But I guess we'll see. Did Mr. Grossman happen to mention when the segment would air (and I just glossed over it like a big dork)? I'd like to see it, if I could.


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Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy, and good with ketchup...
 
Mike,

I wish you the best of luck with NBC and I'm sure you'll give it a great effort, but don't be too surprised if your lesson ends up on the editing floor.

Mike
 
Okay...thought I'd catch m'self before the whole world jumped on me...

I'm a big dork.

Just re-read the first message (hate that I can't reference the thread while I'm typing a reply...dang), and realized that the knife was one carried by an innocent victim of an LEO. Don't know where the heck I got hung up on the suicide thing...morbid thoughts, I guess. Still, my point stands. If they weren't going to make some sort of point about it, why bother with the specifics on the knife?

Now I'm gonna go put on my rubber trousers and stand hip-deep in oatmeal for a while.


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Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy, and good with ketchup...
 
Last I knew the large wood handled one with 007 on the side was still sold in a local camping store but I'm not 100% sure. My Capt. has one at his house in his collection this I know for a fact. These large lockblades were a popular street knife, a number of years ago a Rochester teacher was killed with one, the student had gotten it so it could be flipped open with one hand. e mail me at sguyett@rochester.rr.com
 
Whenever the story does happen to air, could someone convert it to a computer format for those of us without the benefit of corroding our minds with a TV?

Stryver
 
As a former TV news person myself, I know that the preference is for BS with emotion rather than the facts....emotions grab the audience in the gut. Since NBC Dateline is an infotainment program...and not a serious news show...what is the picture of the knife supposed to do? Sometimes as in the GM exploding car case, I wish the media would show the "real" weapon and not one they find to add a dramatic picture. In news vernacular, that's considered "staging" and is unethical. Are they going to stage the guy using the knife as well?
 
The exploding GM car is not the only big one they tried to jam down everyones throat.I'm not sure what news broadcast it was,but some years back while trying to portray the big bad ak-47 civilian model as a demon weapon.They fired the weapon into a watermelon I believe,but since it wasn't a grand stand enough effect of the bullet hitting the watermelon.They fired a shotgun round into it while filming the ak-47 firing and you see a big explosion of fruit fragments.Media person's that falsely represent the truth should be behind bars.The media has an opportunity to influence the public and all to often they manipulate,lie,and misrepresent the facts to try to sway support for something.Thanks,Ralph
 
There are lies, big lies and then News stories.
Want to bet it'll be an anti-knife story?
mad.gif


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D.T. UTZINGER
 
TV is a visual medium. They need to show things that interest the viewers. The bodies are buried, service pistols have been shown to death...what are they going to show? Someone is shot, the only nominal threat around was a knife. It is easy to say that this was gross over reaction. What was the knife? Was it a dangerous knife? Knives come in many shapes and sizes, what was this one like?

I would rate the 007 as one of the more dangerous folders available at the time. It was somewhat long (4.5" blade), thin enough to slice well, enough belly to slash very well and a handle well suited to heavy cuts and thrusts (the lock was of somewhat moderate strength). I bought the one that I sent Mike in the early 70's. I had done slash tests with knives and had decided that, although somewhat crude, the 007 was a mean fighting package. The Japanese blade was soft, but it easily took a very mean edge.

If I was a cop on the street I would be more concerned about a 007 than most Italian picklocks of the era. So the knife helps to set a context for the shooting. It gives the TV crew something to show. It may put the officer in a more sympathetic light. He was on the street to protect the public. He has my sympathy.
 
Silver handle about 6" long with a catch/latch on the skinny side of the handles? If so let me know, I know where there is one in Taiwan.
 
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