Monday, February 3, 2014

What Do You Do When You Spot a Bear?

A reporter in Rhode Island worked on a story about a bear sighting in their viewing area. Rather than simply provide the information about the bear, the reporter learned what you should do if you happen across a bear.

Is the information she provides good and useful? Or is she making a mockery of the situation?

11 comments:

Meredith Hebert said...

If Justin Bieber were a journalist…. (cry for attention).
This reporter makes a mockery of the situation in a tacky manner. Instead of formally providing the steps by either herself or a wildlife expert, she makes a poor excuse of a parody, which isn't even believable. She contradicts herself by first stating that you shouldn't making any noise or sudden movement, then all of a sudden starts screaming and flailing her arms, only to silently crouch back down in fetal position. Poor excuse for "news" reporting.

Jon B. said...

If your going to give tips on what to do if approached by a bear, I would rather see an expert give me the tips. A journalist is am expert in their own right, but not at escaping the danger of a bear. This reporter makes a fool out of herself within the segment and doesn't seem to be doing such a good job with the actions. As someone who didn't know the background behind this segment I thought she was making a spoof video.

Unknown said...

I think the story about the bear sighting is barely newsworthy, which makes watching this woman's antics all the more painful. If the news station had to talk about the bear, couldn't they simply state, "A man saw a bear. The man wasn't harmed. The bear problem is taken care of." This is Providence, RI after all. It's not exactly a hub for bears. The chances of a citizen encountering a bear must be slim, and should one find him or herself in this unlikely scenario, couldn't he or she do what the man who actually encountered the bear in the story did and STOP BEING OUTSIDE? An urban environment provides one with plenty of opportunities to be in a building. It seems like a more reasonable idea than this newscaster's "just act like a lunatic" theory.

In any case, if this news station had to talk about what to do when you encounter a bear then I agree with a previous comment in which they would let a professional demonstrate what to do. However, I feel this story was not relevant to the people of Providence and the station should have found a story concerning a more pressing issue to broadcast for 39 seconds.

David Kroll said...

The idea surrounding the information for the public is good. If a bear randomly came up to me, I wouldn't exactly know the best course of action. This video, however, crosses the line for being informative, to trying to get a laugh by making funky sounds and weird gestures. Not a fan.

Taylor Smethers said...

If executed correctly, this piece could have been interesting and informational. I have no idea what to do if I am ever face to face with a bear so a demonstration by her with a professional could have added a sense of trustworthiness and credibility. However, her approach is extremely tacky and instead she makes a joke of the situation. I could understand seeing this on someone's personal blog for humor, but definitely not published as news worthy. I would never choose to watch another broadcast by her again.

H Lask said...

She should probably explain why some bears go to peoples houses, some people actually feed a bear so they come back to the original spot. Also, black bears are not as aggressive as brown bears. I think the playing dead would probably be your best chance with a brown bear but I would definitely not try to scare it away.

Anonymous said...

Though it COULD be useful information (to someone out there I'm sure), she shouldn't be presenting the information in this way. Making fun of a dangerous situation won't draw good attention her way and make it seem as if the incident is funny. If she would've backed it up with an interview with someone who has been attacked by a bear before, I think the information presented would have been more credible.

- Elizabeth Vo

Danika Palmeri said...

If in fact the steps the reporter provided were the right ones to take in the event that one comes into contact with the bear, then the information that she provided is useful, although I'm not quite sure about how staying still and waving your arms and throwing shoes at the bear are subsequent steps. I think that this story should have been done in a different way, as the reporter is clearly trying to invoke laughter from her audience through the way she acted out a bear encounter. Like others said above, an expert coming on the program and explaining what to do in the event of a bear encounter might have given this story more credibility.

Kristen said...

This is not even funny (if it is supposed to be) or even funny in an informative way. Instead she is being a little obnoxious, and honestly I would not take her journalism seriously after watching this. She should have stated the tips on what to do if you spot a bear, or if she wanted the visual, she should have taken the video seriously. In cases like this, it would probably be better if she did. Some situations call for a fun way to remember things, but this is a poor example of one. Then again, maybe she really just wanted the attention.

Unknown said...

While I doubt anyone would do research after this segment about how to actually react when confronted by a bear, if they would they would see that everything she presented here is actually accurate. I would say that how she displayed the segment is a bit of a mockery, but one could argue it was for the sake of the viewers to pay attention, or even just for the sake of ratings. I wouldn't take this as a serious journalistic story. Maybe this is why the line of defining journalism is becoming harder and hard to cross. I mean come on this isn't SNL.

Taylor Calta said...

If anything, this made me take this reporter less seriously than I would have if she didn't post this video. I am not going to remember what a 30 second story told me from the news on how to react to a bear sighting, I'm going to remember, specifically from this one, how crazy she looked while doing so. I'd much rather of had an expert come on and teach the audience what is the right thing to do if you do see a bear.