TV's Fox 5 - irresponsible journalism

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Fox 5 put on a segment about plastic knives and how you can get them for cheap on the internet.



Thanks, Fox 5.



They show you demonstrations of plastic knives cutting and peircing meat, and then they show a set up of a metal detection device and wand waver, unable to detect the segment's producer, with plastic knives on him, going through the devices. Then they trot out Bo Dietle, who says everyone needs to be patted down when entering an airport to board a plane. Then they show someone jamming a plastic knife into a metal can. etc. etc.


There's lots of folks on this forum who are unfamiliar with non-metallic knives. Now, the general public has been broadcast with the fear-mongering that you can depend upon the media to foment.


:mad:
 
That show probably thought that they would not get any increase in ratings by only RANTING against normal knives, so they have to up the stakes. Just wait till all knives are gone. Then they will outlaw having too many keys on the keyring, no heavy duty pens, and on and on.
 
Did they falsify some part of their tests? I'm wondering where the irresponsible part comes in.

Really, if they recommended that people be patted down when getting on a plane rather than calling for an outright ban on plastic knives I think things are looking up.
 
Originally posted by Citori
Did they falsify some part of their tests? I'm wondering where the irresponsible part comes in.
Click to expand...

Taking an obscure specialty knife and broadcasting it to millions of people, showing them what it can do and telling them where to get one.

Mark my words, anything sharp and in plastic will suddenly go the way of switchblades, double edged blades and daggers, the result of a politician's effort to look like they're "doing something."
 
I'd also submit that the days of terrorists successfully taking over a passenger jet with sharp objects are over, with folks knowing what the stakes potentially are. Terrorists know they'd be overcome and beat to death, so the've resorted to sneaking ordnance on board, like Richard Read did.
 
The idea of sneaking plastic knives onboard planes has been in the news before. I doubt anyone who has any serious intentions of hijacking a plane is waiting for Fox News to hand him a good idea on how to do it. I also doubt that there is a terrorist cell out there that would be hijacking planes with plastic knives but for the lack of a good supplier.

Regardless, I don't see how this is irresponsible journalism. It is indeed true that a plastic knife can cut or stab meat, punch through a can, etc., and it is indeed true that they don't set off metal detectors. Actually, I'm heartened by the fact that, from your description, they didn't recommend a complete ban on everything made of plastic. Compare this to the fiasco that continues to surround the fictitious handguns that can pass through airport metal detectors, not only is that completely falsified but it is often paired with recommendations to ban plastic framed guns.

I see nothing wrong with a news program reporting facts. I don't even have a problem with them editorializing as long as they do it correctly. If they were claiming 'Plastic knives are evil' I would agree with you. As long as they stick to 'Hijacking a plane with a plastic knife is evil' I'm happy.
 
I totaly agree with you, what a piece of scare TV. They must be desprate to fill a time slot. I think i could file my toothbrush down into a point and be a weapon in their eyes...
 
....if they didn't falsify the tests in any way. As far as I can tell, plastic knives are made for one purpose only; to get a knife through metal detectors. I think it is a valid story; letting the general public know that there is a "potential weapon", readily avialable and marketed as a way to circumvent an important part of security systems.

Sure you could sharpen your toothbrush: but somebody didn't specifically design your toothbrush to be an "edged tool" or "self defense" weapon that can be snuck through metal detectors. No one is marketing and selling sharpened toothbrushes as a way to sneak a sharpened object past security points. Your toothbrush doesn't have a handle that is specifically designed to keep your hand from sliding forward when thrust into something at full force.

Can anyone really look at the Blackie Collins letter opener and not recognise what it's true intent is? Defensive, or offensive, it is designed to be a weapon that can be snuck past metal detectors.

Thom
 
I have already seen some airlines remove metal cutlery from their dinner service. Now, say hello to finger foods.:rolleyes:
 
in what you are saying. I can not think of any reason to have the type of plastic knives they had, other than to evade metal detectors. But to single out plastic knives as a viable threat and do a ten minute segment was ridiculous. Is the treat of a filed down toothbrush not the same as the plastic knife, they are hand and hand. Besides, as on poster put it, the day people take over planes with knives is over. The least of my concerns is someone with a plastic knife...
 
I guess part of it was the way that they did it.

You know the drill - they show you teasers throughout the show, starting up front, in the beginning of the show by the lady holding the knives, saying - "These look like regular knives. But there's a secret - and what you don't know can harm you!"

I'm sitting there thinking, "well, they're fixed blades, so they can't be autos or anything..."

Then, right before each commercial break, they flash back to pictures of the knives with a forboding tone of music and more of that "wait right there, and we'll be back to tell you the horrible news..."

Then finally the segment starts and is all completely engineered with specially shot sequences just for this segment.

News organizations have to fill their roster with ... news. If nothing is happening at the moment, or they want to be the company that does this exposé type of thing to keep you tuning in, they need to do what they do. Which is to foment fears and anxiety - in this instance, something very obscure, but now millions know about it.
 
Thats nothing. I saw an "expose" on UPN 9 about how teens were able to purchase spray paint and boxcutters from hardware stores. Very gritty journalism indeed.
 
A news agency here did the same thing w/ the small pox vaccine. "Tune in tonight to find out if it can save your life or take it." Not an exact quote, but something along those lines. I'll take 0.0001% over the fatality rate of small pox any day.
 
Its hard to be sure whether the network news programs are motivated by agendas or just sheer idiocy, but the end result is always the same.
 
This is definitely alarmist. We live in a culture of fear which is kept alive by politicians and journalists who take these sorts of actions. This one is a little close to home for me because I like to use Lexan to model blades I’d like to make. It’s very easy to work with and I get free scrap pieces from work. I really don’t want to have people asking me which plane I plan on high jacking.
I would say that if the news program was suggesting that plastic knives are effective offensive weapons I think it could safely be called irresponsible. There are a GREAT many things that one could bring on a plane that are way more effective weapons. A piece of knapped flint or glass makes a fully capable knife. In fact, if it’s done properly, the only advantage steal has over these materials is durability.
 
If the day ever comes when they ban plastic knives, we still know that they can easily be made by filing down just about any plastic item.

If someone still is stupid enough to wish to attempt an airline hijacking with a sharp or pointed object, all he has to do is put his toothbrush kit into his carry-on bag, put some sandpaper (2 sheets coarse, 1 sheet fine) into the pages of a magazine in the bag, and go to the bathroom of the plane for a few minutes. When he emerges, he can have a nice sharp pointed object (with bristles at one end) with which to threaten or poke anyone he wishes. Most likely, though, he'll be made short work of by those around him.

But really, folks. This is how easy it is to arm yourself. This is also how POINTLESS it is for authorities to attempt to ban the TOOL and not address the INTENT. We will NEVER be able to eliminate the availability of objects that can be used as weapons. It's sure as hell time to stop wasting resources trying.
 
Originally posted by lesoleilnoir
Is there an axe murderer under your bed tonight? Find out tommorow only on Fox News ;)
Click to expand...

I saw on t.v. tonight that Fox News will show tomorrow night how "deadly" fake fingernails can be.

The teaser went something like this:
"They're hot, they're sexy, and they COULD be DEADLY!"

Then they showed some brief footage of tests where fake nail tips could catch fire.

But "DEADLY"?! Gimmee a f**kin' BREAK. You know how hard it would be to start a decent size fire just from a fingernail that catches fire?! For one thing, the fingernail does not catch fire unless there's ALREADY flame present! Why isn't Fox News talking about the dangers of the stove flame or candle flame that's already alight before they are used to set off the FINGERNAIL?!

Scare t.v. Just slightly more pathetic than reality t.v. But tons more contemptible.
 
Originally posted by Chuck428
Thats nothing. I saw an "expose" on UPN 9 about how teens were able to purchase spray paint and boxcutters from hardware stores. Very gritty journalism indeed.
Click to expand...

Yeah. And if they kids couldn't succeed in buying boxcutters at a hardware store but wanted to commit a crime with some sort of knife nonetheless, they COULDN'T just go to their parents' KITCHEN KNIFE DRAWER to get any of a set of a half dozen steaknives, or maybe a butcher knife, paring knife, carving knife...

Someone ought to tell the news-idiots to do an expose on how, "Your kitchen could be turning your kid into a terrorist!"
 
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