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With sporadic violence and looting breaking out Monday night in Ferguson after a grand jury chose not to indict the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, some cable network correspondents were attacked on air.
At just past 1 a.m. EST, CNN correspondent Sara Sidner was hit by rocks. She kept on working, according to Deadline.com: "I'm OK, I'm OK. I've been hit by much worse in my day." Another CNN correspondent Stephanie Elam was threatened after she taped a store being looted.
Earlier, CNN’s’ Don Lemon was overcome by smoke, which he interpreted as tear gas.
A protester also knocked a cameraman’s camera to the ground while Fox News’ Steve Harrigan was on the air.
TV critic Brian Lowry of the Boston Herald said all this coverage provided a lot of noise and bluster but very little context. If you wanted thoughtful pieces about the case itself, you had to go elsewhere. (For instance, here's a fascinating piece in fivethirtyeight.com about why grand juries rarely indict cops.)
What again emerged was cable's near-addiction to conflict, which the unrest and looting that followed the announcement yielded in abundance. And while one can admire the long hours and bravery exhibited by on-the-scene reporters under trying circumstances, the nature of this sort of coverage yields such a narrow aperture their hard work produces heat, perhaps, but scant illumination.
As CNN’s Chris Cuomo noted, so far, this is nothing like the aftermath of the Rodney King protests.
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