April 3, 2010 - Shame on WGN TV Chicago. Their report of last Wednesday's bizaare incident of a stolen car crashing into police vehicles misrepresents the amateur videos that they made use of. WGN took audio from one of those and laid it over the other, giving a false impression of both camerapersons.
WGN's headline, "Eye-Witness Video: Hit-and-run driver crashes into police crime scene," is followed by a misleading subhead, "Accident took place in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood." The driver of the stolen vehicle rammed it into other vechicles intentionally, so there was literally no "accident" that took place.
Chicago News Bench, as reported here earlier, obtained a copy of an amateur eyewitness video at the same time WGN did. That amateur videographer gave me a CD with his video. We added some of our own material to the front and back, but did not alter the original in any way except to lay titles over it and improve the lighting quality somewhat.
The "Oh My God" Video...
The video that we incorporated into our presentation was clearly shot from an upper story window. In that video (see it here), the cameraman is heard saying "Oh my God" several times. He - and his camera - were looking down at the scene on the street below. At the same time, another person standing at street level shot video of the same scene (see it here). Then watch WGN's video report.
WGN took an "Oh my God" audio snippet from the first video and laid it over the other. That's unethical and gives the false impression that the cameraperson on street level said "Oh my God." The one in which the cameraman actually does say that has gotten over 6,000 views at my YouTube channel. Anybody seeing the actual "Oh my God" video might get the two different videos confused. In short, WGN faked their own report. There is swearing in both videos, both from the cameraman in the actual "Oh my God" video and from some police officers in each. However, in the street-level video the cameraperson does not swear.
WGN only showed a few seconds of each video. We show both in their entirety and, as noted, accurately.
Shame on WGN for this, for unethically mashing together the two videos, for misrepresenting one of the videographers, and for not showing the full video of the crash scene as we do.
RELATED:
FULL VIDEO, Crazy Driver Slams Into Cop Cars at Crime Scene
