media and jumping

[kenz 0]

i just received an email from my brothers best friend about the incident in utah, i guess to try and scare me away from continuing my progression - i understand the concern, but it almost annoyed me in the sense that yes i do understand and i am very aware that there is a risk everytime i decide to jump, but its not going to change my mind about it...

anyway, i don't know if its just because i am brand new to jumping, and ive started to pay much more attention... but over the past several months has anyone else noticed how much attention the media is pushing on skydiving... i feel like absolutely every incident thats happened recently, has been mapped across every major network and cable news -- the only positive i have seen was the swooping segment on the today show...

i dont ever remember hearing anything skydiving related on the news prior to this year, and again im not sure if its because i wasn't involved, but it seems to come up allllllll the time now -

why are they now focusing so much on it now, and why is it ALWAYS bad - never any focus on conventions and competitions and how exciting this sport really is-

i do understand and appreciate the thoughts and concerns my family and friends have, but i just wish they didn't have to have the bad stuff shoved in their faces all the time.... i dunno sorry for my rant i'm just a little frustrated

"life does throw curveballs sometimes but it doesn't mean we shouldn't still swing for the homerun" ~ me

[FrEaK_aCcIdEnT 0]

to me it always seems that when something makes headlines. everytime it happens for a couple months or more in some cases it gets brought up. Incidents have always happened. Like you i havnt been in the sport for long at all but my guess is that the negative coverage is just a fad that will fade in the weeks or months to come. it will become old news to the tv networks and they will move on to some other storys. About 3 weeks ago there was a segment in the local news paper about things to do in the summer that are different from the norm. Skydiving was at the top of the list from what i remember. it listed all the places to go make a tandem jump(even though some of the places were no loger operational) so there is also good press. just my .02

more experienced people will probably give better feedback for this issue. I let people {attempt} to talk me out of something. but it never works.

ExPeCt ThE uNeXpEcTeD!
DoNt MiNd ThE tYpOs, Im LaZy On CoRrEcTiOnS!

[vamp 0]

My theory on this (for what it's worth): you ARE more aware of reports RE: skydiving and such now b/c you're involved. So too are your family and friends by virtue of their concerns for you.

Add to that the really difficult summer that your local dropzone has had (and therefore your local news has reported strongly) and you may be seeing it pushed up towards the front of the newspage rather than buried in the back as usu.

As far as not focusing on conventions and all, that's not surprising. It's not a mainstream sport, not really a spectator sport except for swooping...and reporting that x-hundred jumpers landed safely this weekend really doesn't sell newspapers/make headlines.

[airtwardo 7]

you ARE more aware of reports RE: skydiving and such now b/c you're involved. So too are your family and friends by virtue of their concerns for you.

***

That comment is pretty accurate, anything in
the media now grabs your attention because
it's a part of 'your' community.

In journalism there is a saying
"If it bleeds-it leads",
they have for the most part always shown
little interest in covering the 'happy times'
of anything.

Back when I first started jumping,
I too always got the gloom & doom reports
from friends...not family so much...they've
always been real supportive, but I had a
girlfriend that would cut out anything in a
newspaper involving any kind of skydiving
incident,
And mail it to me...

I stopped that by doing the same to her with
car accidents...she got the point.

If you guys do stay with the sport,
over time those around you will begin to
understand that skydiving plays an important
role in your life,
and ease up with the negative input.

You'll still notice the 'slanted / inaccuate'
coverage accidents often receive in the media,
but you will realize then, even more than
you do now...
that's not a clear picture of what happened,
or of the sport overall.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Mike111 0]

just my 0.02 -

Bad news sells more papers than good - good things happaen so often, which is great, like all the thousands of jumps made safely every weekend without a scratch,...

... yet those veyr unfortunate incidents, which guaranteed will always happen in any action sport, occur every so often and so are deemed news headlines because they aren't the norm to the general public.

Journalism is a business, and money = good business, hence why they focus on the bad stuff.

Sincere condolences to the jumpers family.

mike

[waltappel 1]

Quote

Back when I first started jumping,
I too always got the gloom & doom reports
from friends...not family so much...they've
always been real supportive, but I had a
girlfriend that would cut out anything in a
newspaper involving any kind of skydiving
incident,
And mail it to me...

I stopped that by doing the same to her with
car accidents...she got the point.

A few years ago I went on a short trip with my (now ex-) girlfriend and her parents. We were going down the road and her father, who I like quite a bit, got off on this tangent about death as it relates to skydiving.

I didn't mind, because like many skydivers, I've got my standard answers to the, "What if your parachute doesn't open?" kind of questions. His wife was starting to get annoyed because he kept on asking more and more of these kind of questions, but I went along with it. No problem. He wasn't asking the questions to be mean; it was more of a morbid curiosity type of thing.

After a while, we noticed some inanimate pile of something along the road that looked like it could have been a dead animal. "What was that?", he wondered aloud.

[HERE was my opportunity!!! This guy is the ULTIMATE dog lover. He and his entire family practically worship dogs. I like dogs a lot, but he REALLY loves dogs]

"Probably a dead dog."

No crickets chirping--it was a whole lot quieter than that.

His wife, who also really worships dogs, was quite pleased because she had been getting quite annoyed with all the morbid questions and comments. He hasn't asked any of those kinds of questions since.

Walt

[airtwardo 7]

He hasn't asked any of those kinds of questions since.

***

They're all 'well meaning' but they just don't understand 'us'!

I'd ridden my motorcycle 350 miles in poor weather to be with the family on Thanksgiving when I was in school.

About 25 people at my folks place, and all through dinner, all my brother in law could talk about was "Motorcycle Crashes"...

Finally he tells about spending an entire day picking gravel out of his best friends chest & legs after going down on a bike...

...I told him, "Your friend is a PUSSY...I always pick out MY OWN gravel!!"


My poor Dad was laughing so hard, mashed potatoes were shootin' out his nose!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[waltappel 1]

Quote

My poor Dad was laughing so hard, mashed potatoes were shootin' out his nose!

Somehow, I think a lot of people have had those kinds of moments when you were around

Walt

[op5e 0]

If the public objects to jumping so much why are there display jumps? Is this same interest why the newpaper thinks its worthy of printing a story. It appears that people are interested in seeing it as long as its not a friend/family member. Dont mind me just thinking outloud.