Huckleberries Online

Zelda: KREM Murder Audio Graphic

Posted by DFO

Dec. 4, 2009 5:51 p.m. • 11 comments

Zelda Krup: I’m swerving off the road (figuratively speaking). KREM just aired a portion of the 911 call of the Mead, WA, woman’s call to 911 while being stabbed to death. The day this happened, I included a paragraph in my blog post on HBO about how I hope to never hear this audio, but then I deleted it before posting, thinking, surely, surely, no TV station would ever do this. But they did. Abbie Gibb was horrified and urged everyone to clear children from the room beforehand. Reality TV — who needs Bravo? (KREM2 story and video/audio here)

Question: Should the media release audios like this 911 call — and let their readers/viewers decide whether or not to listen?

11 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Charlie on December 04 at 7:14 p.m.
I guess the old MSM saying,”If it bleeds, it leads,” has some truth in it. As for me, it was chilling to hear and not fit for little kids. How often can parents really monitor the TV, especially the news. If the media must put this on, do it on the 11 pm show.
moscow_minidoka on December 04 at 8:04 p.m.
Absolutely tasteless and reprehensible. And one of the many reasons my kids don’t watch TV.
HonestGeorge on December 04 at 8:47 p.m.
No. It desensitives all of us - especially the children.
Digger on December 04 at 8:55 p.m.
This isn’t the first time that KREM has aired upsetting audio. In 1996 (?) when two high school boys died after falling through the ice in St. Maries, KREM aired home video that also had the audio of the boys screaming for “Terry, save us”. Terry, of course, was a local firefighter and a friend of the boys family.

This is very mucn like Sean Hannity playing the audio from the Nick Berg execution/beheading. I didn’t hear it, nor have I watched the video becuase even with all the nasty stuff I’ve seen during my time in the funeral biz, I still can’t stomach watching or hearing death.

KREM shouldn’t have played this audio - by doing so they pretty much voided any jury pool that this guy could get locally.
Fuschia on December 04 at 8:58 p.m.
What are you doing watching/listening to the TV while driving?

Your radio/TV does have a functional on/off switch? They do give a warning in the broadcast.
zelda on December 04 at 9:35 p.m.
I said I was figuratively swerving off the road, not literally.

Come to think of it, the way TV reporters use the word literally nowadays, they think it means “really, totally, golly.”
JIMMYMAC on December 04 at 10:44 p.m.
Digger, I went to school with both, knew them well, would definitely call them both friends. The two were a grade ahead of me. I wasn’t extremely close with them but that event changed everybody’s lives who knew the boys, which was just about everyone in St. Maries. One of my really good friends was one of the drowning victims very best childhood friend. Over a dozen of us were at his parent’s house mourning when Krem played that video. I called Krem myself in a fit of rage as it was just too much for us to take in, especially being so fresh.
RIP JM and DS
Deeply_Disappointed on December 04 at 11:56 p.m.
The family is deeply disappointed by KREM’s decision to go forward with any audio of the 911 call. Although we understand this is public content, we feel there is nothing to gain by sensationalizing something in audio that could have just as easily been conveyed in print. I can assure you this decision only compounds the families sadness behind this tragedy and creates a distrust with the media in light of the fact we have given all reporters several facts and candid accounts of our emotions in this time of crises. We have, and still do respectfully request the audio portion of these public tapes not be aired. -KPM
Bent on December 05 at 12:45 a.m.
Wow Deeply_Disappointed, how horrible this must be for you and your family. Our family will pray hard for you and your family to find some peace in this soon…
CDA_Mom on December 05 at 12:50 a.m.
Oh come on — I heard the broadcast — i was online listening to TV. All that was played was a small portion of the woman’s 911 call where she stated that her husband stabbed her. Maybe it was so bad because at the time of the call she didn’t sound bad and she eventuallly died? what was so bad about that? I certainly wasn’t traumatized and they did tell everyone that the audio was very distrubing (although I did not find it to be so) and that children should leave the room. BTW I heard it on the 11:00 news, I do not know if it was played earlier. But for me, my kids are well asleep and they would never have heard this.

What I still cringe at seeing and hearing is the 911 plans flying into the twin towers in New York. Now that was played and replayed and was very disturbing — but everyone played it.
jreighley on December 05 at 7:16 p.m.
With the internet, they can just pitch the fact that the audio is available, and let those who are curious click through..

They oughta avoid playing stuff that may not be appropriate for all audiences.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.