Uh-oh: CBS News to air anti-GA hit piece on Wed. 1/14

"Peter Gottlieb" wrote in message
et...

[snip]
CBS should be ashamed at themselves for the damage to this country they
could cause by these sensationalist pieces.

There are just too many things CBS (or NBC, or ABC, or...) should be ashamed
of that one more won't make much difference. Generally, these people are
interested in eyeball count first and maybe factual presentations second.
Well maybe tenth on the facts part.

Sensationalism gets viewers. That is a fact of the news/entertainment
business. Maybe we should change the name to newsertainment. IMO, the ONLY
way to effect a change in the way these people "report" GA news is to effect
their revenues. I propose we use whatever methods we have at our disposal to
counter their lines of bilge, and critize their inaccuracies with as much
professionalism as possible. Threatening to not watch is fine. But getting
others to realize the poor quality of the reporting is much more effective.
Sorta like the "give a fish-teach to fish thing"

Joining AOPA and other GA friendly organizations is a good start. Actively
promoting GA to everyone who will listen is another method. Volunteer at
Young Eagle events; cultivate the friendship of newspaper/magazine/local
radio reporters. Get the word out about the positive things GA provides to
the general public. I'm sure there are many more I haven't mentioned.

A truly informed viewer would be the death of network news as it is
structured today. Will my singular efforts make much of a diference? I
don't know, but I'm going to try.

VideoGuy

Besides what I posted above, I PS'd my email to CBS by telling them to relay
a message to their advertisers that I will no longer be viewing any CBS
shows, including their network news. Then I emailed a local FBO owner who
promptly got a hold of the nearest CBS affiliate to interview him. No where
did I indicate that I was a pilot.
--
Jim Burns III

Remove "nospam" to reply



So here I am, ready to write something. I see your point, but what
alternative is there to complaining? I don't like the idea of ignoring
it.

What do people suggest?

BTW, I was planning to ask when they'll be discussing the fact that trucks
can go anywhere without flight plans or talking to ground traffic control.
Considering how often trucks have been used in terrorist attacks, both
world-wide and in the US, this is terrifying.

I wasn't even going to mention that I'm a pilot (it's not really relevant
to
my point).

- Andrew

I'm not supporting CBS in anyway, and I do believe GA gets a lot of this
kind of publicity, as is often stated on this forum, because we are a small
"elite" minority. OTOH, I don't think the fear, rational or irrational, is
based on the Tampa scenario. It is based on loading up a small twin, or a
heavy single with explosives and following that with some suicide activity.
I don't know anything about explosives, but I suspect that the 900+ useful
load in a 182 could carry enough explosives to be pretty brutal in a crowded
place.

I know, I know - there are plenty of equivalent threats that are not
monitored (I liked the post about trucks/OKC). I just don't like to take the
stance that GA is no threat - what happens after some incident occurs? Does
GA become shut down?

On a macro scale the problem is trying to manage all terrorist risk at the
expense of common sense and reality. On a less grand scale, I just would
like to see GA as concerned and proactive, since I'm afraid of what the
government will do if they are allowed, through an incident, to become
reactive.

This doesn't take away from the fact that the CBS trailer is ridiculous.

Michael




"Max T, CFI" wrote in message
news:t0hNb.66605$xy6.125011@attbi_s02...
Here's the email I sent to our CBS channel 5 in S.F. last night.
So far no response.
Max T, MCFI


Brian,
Regarding the teaser for Wednesday's CBS Evening News:
"There are thousands of general aviation airstrips around the country with
little or no security. How can that be after
9-11? We'll have the story on Wednesday's CBS Evening News."

You might want to consider on the local news going to a local airport and
showing people how small these planes are,
how little they carry, and hence how tiny a threat they are compared to
airliners carrying thousands of gallons of
gasoline.


From the www.aopa.org website, AOPA President Phil Boyer testified before
congress in 2001 that "in this national
tragedy, it was airline security that was breached, and airline transport
category equipment used as weapons. However,
general aviation was the last allowed to return to the sky, and not all GA
is yet flying. "We're not talking about big
airplanes," Boyer told Congress. "We're talking about 4-place,
single-engine aircraft that are on average 30 years old,
cost the same as a car, and have the same weight and kinetic energy of a
car."

You only have to look at the pictures of the Cessna that the teenager flew
into a building in Tampa to see that these
planes are incapable of causing much damage. Most of these planes carry
so little fuel they don't even burn when
there's an accident.

Give me a call if you want to talk further. I'll be in a meeting from
9-11AM, but should otherwise be free.
best regards,
xxxxx

Not that it will do any good, but I sent the following to CBS:

I am writing, with no expectations of it having any effect, to express my
grave dissatisfaction with the promotional spots you are running for this
evening's newscasts. In these spots, you promise to reveal the grave
security threat that general aviation airports pose to our country. These
spots - and presumably the report you intend to run this evening - are
focused on a threat that is at best extremely remote.

Like almost any other pilot, I could cite any number of reasons why this
nation's light aircraft present far less of a threat than nearly every other
means of transportation. The simple fact, however, is that your
organization isn't even remotely concerned with telling the other side of
the story. Any number of national organizations, such as the Airplane
Owners and Pilot's Association (AOPA), would have happily granted on-camera
interviews for this story if they had been invited to do so. Since CBS News
failed to take even this basic and obvious step, one can only conclude that
your broadcast will reflect only one reporter's misguided understanding of
the world.

CBS News is not serving the public interest with this report, and is not
adhering to it's commitment to use the public airwaves in a responsible
manner.

In closing, I want to assure you that my letter should not be taken as an
indicator that I will be viewing your broadcast this evening. I also won't
bore you with threats to boycott your broadcasts in the future. The truth
of the matter is that my family simply gave away our television three years
ago, and have never looked back. A big part of our decision to do so came
from being exposed to over-hyped, inaccurate, and uninformative news reports
such as this one. In fact, I urge to continue on the road you have chosen.
Every time you present something that a good number of people know to be
patently false, you impugn your credibility with the public even further.
Eventually, you just may offend everyone enough to get them to follow my
family's example.

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message
...
|
| "John Gaquin" wrote in message
| ...
|
| "Maule Driver" wrote in message
|
| I'm hoping that it is a more level headed report ...
|
| From network news? a level-headed report? still smokin' that funny
| stuff,
| huh?
|
| From CBS, no less; the folks that blew up a pickup truck to show how
they
| could...well, blow up.

I believe that was NBC. The truck would not blow up when rammed from the
side so they attached fireworks to make sure that they got a nice
explosion.
Then they ran a show on how dangerous the truck was. This was one of those
rare cases where the manufacturer successfully sued for defamation.

You sure? I thought it was a part of "60 Minutes".

"C J Campbell" wrote in
:


"David H" wrote in message
...
| I just saw a "teaser" piece during the CBS Evening News promoting
| their "investigation" on security at GA airports, to air tomorrow
| (Wed. 1/14). It looks like it's going to be just awful.
|

The way to respond to shows like this is to increase security. If we
see news media photographing the airport or interviewing people at the
airport, we should tackle the reporter, throw him or her to the ground,
and smash his camera equipment. Then we should explain that we do not
allow the airport or personnel associated with the airport to be
photographed or interviewed because that would compromise security.
They want tough security measures? Then let's give them tough security
measures!

They should also be held incommunicado for 30 days after the incident (in
the FBO restrooms) as an added security precaution.

"Michael 182" wrote in message
news:hChNb.66255$8H.106469@attbi_s03...

I'm not supporting CBS in anyway, and I do believe GA gets a lot of this
kind of publicity, as is often stated on this forum, because we are a
small
"elite" minority. OTOH, I don't think the fear, rational or irrational, is
based on the Tampa scenario. It is based on loading up a small twin, or a
heavy single with explosives and following that with some suicide
activity.
I don't know anything about explosives, but I suspect that the 900+ useful
load in a 182 could carry enough explosives to be pretty brutal in a
crowded
place.


You could carry a lot more explosives in a 3/4 ton pickup or a 12 foot
U-Haul or fake UPS truck.

"VideoGuy" gkasten at brick dot net wrote in message
...

"Peter Gottlieb" wrote in message
et...

[snip]
CBS should be ashamed at themselves for the damage to this country they
could cause by these sensationalist pieces.

There are just too many things CBS (or NBC, or ABC, or...) should be
ashamed
of that one more won't make much difference. Generally, these people are
interested in eyeball count first and maybe factual presentations second.
Well maybe tenth on the facts part.

Sensationalism gets viewers. That is a fact of the news/entertainment
business.

Anyone read Michael Crichton's book "Airframe"? Completely skewers the
"news" media.

As I said in my original post "I know, I know - there are plenty of
equivalent threats that are not monitored (I liked the post about
trucks/OKC). I just don't like to take the stance that GA is no threat -
what happens after some incident occurs? Does GA become shut down?"

"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message
...

"Michael 182" wrote in message
news:hChNb.66255$8H.106469@attbi_s03...

I'm not supporting CBS in anyway, and I do believe GA gets a lot of this
kind of publicity, as is often stated on this forum, because we are a
small
"elite" minority. OTOH, I don't think the fear, rational or irrational,
is
based on the Tampa scenario. It is based on loading up a small twin, or
a
heavy single with explosives and following that with some suicide
activity.
I don't know anything about explosives, but I suspect that the 900+
useful
load in a 182 could carry enough explosives to be pretty brutal in a
crowded
place.


You could carry a lot more explosives in a 3/4 ton pickup or a 12 foot
U-Haul or fake UPS truck.

"Geoffrey Barnes" wrote in message
nk.net...
Not that it will do any good, but I sent the following to CBS:
[snip]
In closing, I want to assure you that my letter should not be taken as an
indicator that I will be viewing your broadcast this evening. I also
won't
bore you with threats to boycott your broadcasts in the future. The truth
of the matter is that my family simply gave away our television three
years
ago, and have never looked back. A big part of our decision to do so came
from being exposed to over-hyped, inaccurate, and uninformative news
reports
such as this one.

Good man!!

I disconnected our cable two years ago...we have a 54" TV, but the only
signal it gets from the DVD and VCR players.