European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 10, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The screens role in los Angeles King beating riot by Howard Rosenberg los Angeles times the Man on the phone said he was a teacher in a the inner City and was calling a less than an hour after the acquittal of four los Angeles police officers in the Rodney King Case a to protest the a a irresponsibility of los Angeles Kobs to Channel 2 and Knic to Channel 4 in repeatedly re showing the of amp Mous videotape of a seemingly defenceless King being clobbered by officers. Quot i have to go Down there and work tomorrow a the teacher said. A i done to like the King verdict. It stinks. But they the to stations Are endangering a lot of  its simplistic to blame television for the rioting and fiery holocaust that erupted in los Angeles Fol More on riots Page 27 lowing the King trial. After All to did no to sit on the jury whose verdicts touched off the catastrophic reaction. And in fact Many to reporters worked tirelessly and courageously putting themselves in danger while covering the initial barrage against South Central los Angeles and other areas of the City. However if repeatedly playing the King video during the lengthy trial did indeed desensitize jurors to the violence As some have suggested there was also the possibility that telecasting the same tape in the trials tense aftermath helped inflame some of the passions that drove the violent rage. A wow a Kab to Channel 7 reporter John North exclaimed after the verdicts were announced. A obviously a videotape does not say it  but that tape combined with the acquittals said plenty to thousands upon thousands of other los Angeles citizens including those whose destructive response to the Simi Valley trials outcome was to go berserk. Although re showing the King video did serve As a dramatic contrast to the jurors perceptions doing so at this time was a careless misjudgment possibly making it even harder to achieve the Calm that Many to anchors themselves had been urging repeatedly George Holliday a video of the Rodney King beating in March 1991 helped spark the la. Riots of 1992. A korean shopping mall Burns at third Street and Vermont Avenue on april 30, Day 2 of the riots. On the air. This mixed message from the Media was underlined when Channel 7 twice aired the beating video while interviewing a Anonymous juror by phone and no cd a today program showed segments of the video four times within a 45-minute Span. And Kcal to Channel 9 even showed it in slow motion. If someone were angry and had a predilection toward violence seeing the King video again and again in this White hot period following the trial could have been a Button Pusher. The a to show or not to show the Vic of question indicates the minefield that the Media especially television must walk in reporting such a potentially volatile Story comprehensively and responsibly. Late on the afternoon of april 29, Channel 2 reporter Bill Pounders and a camera Crew were in the jittery Crenshaw District getting responses from Blacks to the King verdicts. One Man took the Lead emotionally calling for violence in the streets. And because Kobs was live a joining other stations in playing a dangerous russian Roulette with the airwaves a it found itself giving resonance to this firebrands destructive inflammatory message. Stations gave prominent coverage that night to eloquent pleas for nonviolence at the first african methodist episcopal Church near downtown. Even As anchors and others were calling for Cool however that evenings hostile demonstrations at Parker Center and other downtown locations were being bathed in the hot lights of television Crews raising anew the Issue of to unintentionally a but lethally a egging on the very violence that was being condemned. And in the process those lights possibly even blinded and turned police into roman Candle targets. At one Point that evening a police officer could be heard telling Channel 7 reporter Linda Breakstone a if you want to turn your lights on turn them on the crowd not on the officers. The lights went off a at the urging of Channel 7 anchors Paul Moyer and Ann Martin who along with Channel 2�?Ts Michael tuck and cop to Channel 13�?Ts Ross Becker were especially adroit at various Points during the first hours of violence. If experience was evident a especially when covering the downtown violence a so was inexperience. In contrast to Breakstone and Channel 4�?Ts Laurel Erickson for example Channel 2 reporter Jodi Bas Kerville at times sounded like a hyper Valley girl choking on her own adrenalin. At one Point when she and her Crew appeared to get entangled with an advancing Wall of police officers a clash ensued and Baskerville appeared to completely lose her composure. She began shouting. A a what a the problem Here i said what a the problem Here they re not giving me an answer a tuck and his co Anchor Bree Walker tried to Calm her Down. Along with uneven reporting and incredible footage a especially those horrifying chopper pictures of motorists being dragged from their vehicles and savagely beaten with no police in sight a the coverage was marked by irony. There was Moyer apologizing to viewers for calling looters a a creeps and for live coverage of a Man with a poster bearing a four letter synonym for excrement. And there was Kab reporter Art Ras con telling an angry interviewee who had spit out a string of expletives a a you re going to have to control your language if you re going to be on  arson looting beating and murdering they show you live. But cursing is where they draw the line. May 10, 1992 sunday a Page 11