Cenciotti thinks the phenomenon – although surprising – can be easily explained. Simply, news choppers are always in the air anyway, and can be easily diverted in the case (and in the interest of) of breaking news. But he wonders: does the arrival of media before law enforcement change the dynamics of a terrorist attack? Might a criminal be prompted towards further violence or destruction if he knew he had the eyes of the world on him? Is it some form of tampering with a crime scene?
Either way, it seems a more than a bit embarrassing for Norwegian police that they were smoked on the way to Utøya so readily. As pictured above, the gunman was out in the open when news aircraft arrived. Had it been a cop inside instead of a cameraman, lives might have been saved. [David Cenciotti]
Pauly7
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 7:02 AMNews ‘coopters are in the sky, yes, but they don’t also have the huge chain of command that needs to be convinced to divert attention from a known terrorist attack (bombing in Oslo) to an at-the-time possible shooting.
Can you imagine the outcry if the shooting had turned out to be an action-film being made? Or a daylight fireworks display?
Emergercy services response times are rarely perfect. Especially with a large dose of the unknown thrown into the mix.
kevin gault
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 9:22 AMHow many kids did the media helicopters save ?