Posted on 04/24/2006 4:50:28 PM PDT by wagglebee
Outraged ABC viewers are calling on the network to fire Diane Sawyer after the anchor broadcast a TV segment that included the beating of a teenage girl by her father – without first going to authorities about what was captured on tape.
During Friday's "Primetime" news magazine show, Sawyer presented a segment about dysfunctional stepfamilies, which featured a profile of a family in Lake Placid, N.Y.
According to a report in the New York Post, state police officials in Lake Placid say they are going over the tape to determine if charges can be brought against the natural father, a Iraq war military reservist, and the teen's stepmother.
By yesterday, over 1,400 messages had been posted on ABC News' website message board, many calling for Sawyer and the show's producers to be fired for failing to take the tape to law enforcement when they first saw it.
"At the very least, the parents should be arrested and Diane Sawyer needs to resign from her post at ABC News," stated one poster. "ABC News' lack of action and complicity were harmful and destructive to a young girl – ALL FOR RATINGS. The therapists did nothing to intervene either and should be arrested. The site keeps taking their names off the board, but they are easy to locate. They should be charged with … child endangerment."
The family, identified as Lynn and Joe Nelson, gave ABC permission to place the cameras in their home and had the ability to turn them off at any time, the Post reported.
ABC News officials said in a statement that by the time they had reviewed the tapes, the father "had been sent to the National Guard training camp and then onto Iraq. Kyle [the daughter] had moved in with her grandparents – where she remains to date."
Said another message-board participant: "I'm disgusted with this family and ABC as well. How dare they allow this young girl to remain in danger for their own ratings. The Nelsons did not represent the typical stepfamily in America. ... I hope they don't represent a typical anything in America."
A poster named Mondo wrote: "I turned off the TV totally disgusted with Diane Sawyer and her whole bunch of idiots and jumped on my computer to see if there was someplace I could get to on the ABC website. I spent over an hour, (my first time), posting and replying along with other enraged people.
"I won't be having to click on the 'Primetime' button ever again because I won't be watching the show – not ever."
These people SHOULD BE losing their FCC licenses. They are traitors not only to America, but to decency.
Is this the special Hannity was pimping for her on his show last week?
ABC should be off the air for this. They are filming and exploiting abuse. What's next ABC peddling child porn?
WTF? Why should she be fired? It was a shocking segment, but not at all atypical of tens of thousands of American families. I have seen 10x worse with some of my own friends' families growing up. At least they were trying to help the emotional and physical abusers confront how they really were. I don't want my TV censored.
| NY Officials Probe Beating Caught By ABC |
||
| Posted by Halls On News/Activism 04/24/2006 7:02:27 PM CDT · 2 replies · 46+ views The Mercury News ^ | 04/24/06 | Halls DAVID BAUDER Associated Press NEW YORK - Authorities in upstate New York are investigating the case of a father hitting his adolescent daughter that was caught on tape by ABC News more than three years ago and aired Friday on the newsmagazine "Primetime Live." The incident involving Joe Nelson of Lake Placid, N.Y., and his daughter Kyle was taped as part of an ABC News story on stepfamilies. With the family's permission, the network placed cameras in the Nelson home and taped hundreds of hours, many involving conflict between Kyle, her father and stepmother. During an argument about medication Kyle... |
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DIANE needs to go now!
So the authorities are reviewing it now. Why couldn't we see it too? I don't see the big deal here.
DID you watch the show Friday night? It was a big deal and a child was being beaten before our eyes!
Ping
bttt
So you don't believe in freedom of the press.
Do you believe in the right to keep and bear arms?
All this "admit your mistakes" crap and "apologize" and "resign" obsession on the part of the liberals is just them reliving the glory days of the 60s when they helped the North Vietnamese.
You mean Sean Hannity who repeats the same facts everyday for months on his show?
If Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly had pulled a stunt like this, they would be in front of a Congressional committee and a FCC tribunal within days.
Goose...meet Gander, Gander...meet Goose.
I lost count of how many times he mentioned Diane and her special on his radio show.
I know they both work for abc among other entities, but criminy.
O'Reilly segment about this now.
"Why should she be fired? It was a shocking segment, but not at all atypical of tens of thousands of American families. I have seen 10x worse with some of my own friends' families growing up. At least they were trying to help the emotional and physical abusers confront how they really were."
1. It was not atypical of tens of thousands of American families - irrelevant.
2. You've seen 10x worse - irrelevant.
3. Anything that begins with "At least they..." irrelevant.
What IS relevant is that the ABC Primetime team were criminally negligent in failing to provide law enforcement authorities with their video proof that Kyle was being abused.
BTW, Kyle will get an attorney and sue ABC for this. You wait and see. I hope she makes a MINT.
Never happen.
Shame on Hannity for pimping Diane's disgusting show.
Media makes strange bedfellows.
I can't listen to him.. He says the same thing everyday and then he debates some liberal.
Three thousand miles away in Lake Placid, NY, the Nelson family is encountering a different set of problems which will eventually put the father between his new wife and his daughter. Their problems escalate to an even more brutal level.
After having his daughter, Kyle, from his first marriage, Joe Nelson enters a second marriage to his wife, Lynn, with whom he has three children. Initially Lynn tries to be a second mother to Kyle, who pulls away, resulting in hurt and anger from Lynn. Years later, when Kyle comes to live with Lynn and Joe, Lynn's often reacts with bitterness toward Kyle. She becomes threatened by Kyle's strong relationship with her younger stepsiblings. According to Dr. Scott Browning of Chestnut Hill College, "I think Lynn is frightened that Kyle is too popular with her children."
For the Nelsons, tensions mount, arguments turn volatile and Lynn's behavior is explosive - especially towards Kyle. Kyle says she is afraid of her stepmother because she fears Lynn will abuse her. While Joe and his wife dismiss Kyle's fears as an exaggeration, the tapes allow viewers to judge for themselves. And although Kyle adores her father, she cannot compete with her stepmother for his attention. Lynn's vitriolic outbursts place Joe in the middle.
http://www.abcmedianet.com/pressrel/dispDNR.html?id=041906_01
"Primetime" then sits the families down with experts, who guide them through revelations and understanding. But can these households - and the millions in similar situations -- be saved?
DIANE SAWYER, CHRIS CUOMO, CYNTHIA McFADDEN and JOHN QUIQONES are the anchors of "Primetime." DAVID SLOAN is the executive producer.
How long before the show is called Lowry & Colmes? Hannity & Colmes is best when Sean is on vacation and Rich Lowry is filling in.
This is about breaking the law.
It is a person's DUTY to report child abuse/child being punched. This was not a spanking. This was a brutal attack.
It should be illegal to tape such an incident and show it on TV.
They should be fined at the least, and Diane Sawyer FIRED at the least!
What happen to Sean? He was not always like this.
So based on this account, ABC planted cameras in the family's home with the family's permission. They captured a beating on tape, but did not see the tape until later.
According to ABC, by the time they saw the tape or learned what it contained, the father was gone and the girl was no longer in danger. Neither the WND story nor the New York Post story it plagiarizes (http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/64985.htm) disputes that version of events.
So ABC did not impede an ongoing investigation. In fact, their tape appears to be the sole evidence in an investigation that would not otherwise be underway at all.
We do not know whether ABC provided the tapes to the authorities before airing them -- all the Post and WND stories say is that posters on a message board are outraged. We do not know whether ABC provided raw tapes to the authorities so that they could put into context the parts that did and did not make it to air.
And even if ABC did neither of those things, neither of those things was its responsibility. If the police want to see the raw tapes, they can ask politely, then subpoena them.
I would be right on board the outrage train if any action or omission of action on the part of ABC left someone in danger. But there is no indication, even in the openly hostile WND story, that that is the case.
The Post headline "DIANE DIDN'T STOP ABUSE" is factually accurate. But you know what? Neither did you. Neither did I. Based on the stories I've seen, there's no reason to believe that Sawyer was any better positioned to know about, let alone stop, the abuse than you and I were.
If the father and/or stepmother end up in prison, it will likely be in part due to the tape provided by ABC's cameras. And all of you howling for Sawyer's head are calling for a stop to that kind of work in the future.
Sean has let his emotions overtake his sensibilities; I can't watch or listen to him anymore either. And he used to be one of my favorites. He has become somewhat unhinged -- can't say that I blame him, with all the false reporting and afterall, he does have to sit with Colmes all the time. But he needs to go on a vacation and get his act back together. I hope he does; his over-reaction to the ports story left me speechless, he was unable to debate the issue.
I have no problem with prosecuting them for breaking the law.
I am opposed to prohibiting from broadcasting.
She should not only be fired but arrested for not surrendering video evidence of a child being beaten by an adult.
How you and your friends were brought up is not relevant nor do we care.
FWIW, with you as my father with that attitude, i would have shot you in your sleep after the second beating.........I would have forgiven you for the first one.
Addendum: I posted the above before I saw the AP/Murky News version of the story, which adds more detail. It was not clear from the other stories that the videotaped incident happened three years ago.
The tape was seen by three psychologists -- who are required by law (at least in most states) to report any imminent threat. They've all said they saw none.
If viewers were shocked, outraged, and alerted to the kinds of problems this illustrated -- and to the resources available to overcome them -- then the show did its job. And any measures to make it more difficult to do such a show in the future will be counterproductive.
Yup, Hannity was pimping for that show. Kissing up to Sawyer, blah blah.
Its not a question of stopping, its the negligence of not of reporting to the proper authorities when they had the evidence. How long they had the evidence i dont know but nothing was said or done until after the program was aired last Friday.........
They are guilty of withholding evidence proving the physical abuse of a child.
Their parallel universe is dangerous, deadly dangerous.
Sean's act consists of bashing the President and pimping for FNC, ABC, and his liberal 'friends'.
G-d help us!
BTTT
my dad used to use his leather belt on me. nowdays that would be considered an assault weapon.
I watched the show and thought they should be on "cops" or Jerry Springer.
I'm just saying I trust these "journalists" have all come from the school of never spank a child ,but keep them all in daycare.
which do you suppose they think is cruel?
They saw one incident of the father losing his temper. The only such incident, they said, in hundreds of hours of taped footage. I have not seen the video, so I don't know how severe it was. I do know, based on the stories posted, that both the father and daughter say this was a one-time incident.
If I saw a friend -- or, for that matter, an acquaintance or even a stranger -- striking his daughter, I would stop it. I would separate them, and make it clear to both of them that such behavior is unacceptable, and that I would testify to what I saw in court.
Would I run straight to the police? If I saw it happen at the moment, yes. To ensure that they were separated and that there was an opportunity to question the daughter outside the father's intimidation. For that matter, I would have intervened before it came to blows.
If I were watching tape weeks or months later, and the family was already getting counseling, likely not. It's incredibly unlikely that you could make a criminal case without a victim willing to testify, and the process would do more harm than good to the family. If there is an ongoing threat, the counselor is better equipped to judge than you are from watching a tape.
I'll admit here that I've hurt people I loved. Nothing more physically brutal than a fairly weak open-handed slap, but accompanied by words that stung longer than the blows. I am not proud of what I did, and I wish I could take it back. If I had been arrested at the time, I would have deserved to be tried, convicted and punished.
I came to grips with my temper, made amends as best I could to the people I'd wronged, and I think if they were here they'd say the same. They still count me as a friend. If a long-ago video tape surfaced showing me in my worst moments, I don't think they'd want me arrested on that evidence, as Kyle doesn't want her father arrested.
Bottom line, prosecuting Dad won't do Kyle any good. The purposes of a criminal penalty are, in descending order of importance: 1) to protect society and potential future victims, 2) to help past victims, 3) to deter others from similar actions, and 4) to retaliate against the offender. If there's little risk on 1, it would actually be detrimental to 2, and 3 is a wash, then 4 fades in importance.
I wouldn't use corporal punishment beyond a swat on the bottom, but that's a personal choice. My bedrock rule is that no parent should ever deliver discipline in anger. If you have beliefs about discipline that differ from mine, fine. It's not my place. But if you're administering "discipline" that serves your needs rather than the child's, that's wrong, and I'll call you out on it.
If you're going to administer a spanking, I kind of like the approach of having a child choose a belt from the closet or cut a switch from the yard. It gives the child time to think about his actions and, more importantly, gives the parent time to calm down.
What's the line between discipline and abuse? I know it when I see it. If you dislocate a child's arm in the act of urgently pulling him out of the path of a moving train, that's patently not abuse. If you dislocate a child's arm because he wet the bed, that clearly is.
The bottom line is that if you're acting in a way that you believe will serve the child best in the long run, that's a start. You might honestly believe that and be wrong, but at least you're thinking in the right direction. I believe that most child abuse comes from parents who react emotionally, angrily -- and let's face it, kids learn early how to push all the buttons -- rather than with a rational parenting strategy in mind.
So I take it you agree that the FCC should take ABC off the air?
This can't be true! The media would never exploit
a story for ratings! "just a tad of sarcasm"
A very sensible approach to corporal punishment and well written comment. Thank you.
The FCC cannot take ABC off the air. Let me clarify.
The FCC licenses entities that send radio waves through the atmosphere. In terms of any content restrictions, they license entities that transmit directly to consumers.
ABC, or any other network, does not transmit directly to the public. It transmits to its affiliate stations, which then transmit to he public. So if the FCC goes after ABC, it cannot fine ABC. It fines the ABC affiliate stations.
Now, this is where it gets a bit complicated. In the last couple decades, changes in regulations have made it easier for networks to own the local license holders. These stations owned and operated by the network are known as O&Os.
When CBS showed Janet Jackson's mediocre mammary on a Sunday afternoon, the fines were not against CBS, but against a long list of affiliates, including a number of O&Os (which meant that CBS paid).
The FCC licenses broadcasters. The networks are simply ways to distribute content among licensed broadcasters, are not broadcasters themselves, and hence do not fall under FCC jurisdiction. CNN, MSNBC, FNN, HBO, et. al. do not fall under the jurisdiction of the FCC.
To summarize, if you can't pick it up with an antenna, the FCC has jack to do with it.
Thanks. I try.
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