Media Coverage of Helicopter Accidents - Bias?
 

While I realize the majority of you are from or work on the other side of the pond I happen to work on the East coast of Canada where we had the misfortune of losing our friends and colleagues in the S92 MGB / TR Failure. Since that time the media has questioned the method of transportation used , the type of helicopter, the crews decision making, and it has even gone into survival suits and HUEBA. If a helicopter turns around for a door light the cameras are rolling.
Before I get too off topic my original point was this; How can an EC 225 (the safest helicopter available for offshore transport according to the arm chair experts .... some politicians included) ditch in the North Sea with a MGB pressure problem, 14 people survive the ordeal and not even get mentioned in the local or national news?
I'm no media expert but I find it rather strange that no reporter from this side of the pond has picked up on this?
What about the offshore petrouleum board? What about the unions?

Nine days and counting.......

Headline news over here, however international news channels want sensational stories. 'Helicopter ditches, everyone safe' just doesn't do it. Sorry to say, but you have to understand the depths they have sunk to in order to realise they are just low-life.

Jay summed it up in far fewer words than I could.

The media need something to sensationalise. "Helicopter ditches, everyone safe and home with family, helicopter back onshore", is not what they want to report in local news let alone international news.

When G-REDL crashed I lived on the East coast of the US and heard about it on the news there. I am adamant it was only because so many lives were lost, and being so soon after G-REDU there was an added controversy. It's disgusting, but true.

Locally we get all of the "RTB due to door caption", thumped into the news paper as "Helicopter makes emergency return to Aberdeen due to emergency light!" Every single mention of a helicopter in the local papers always refers back to the G-REDU and G-REDL incidents even when they are utterly unrelated. Sensationalism of reality is what sells, which is why heli operators need very good PR departments these days.

Sorry to drag on about it. I have a bee in my bonnet about it too...

Eurocopter do not consider a helicopter ditching a catastrophic event...

Lets face it IF it had landed on the beach it wouldn't have made the news in the UK..

And probably wouldn't even be mentioned here......

Unless they were a SAR crew buying ice creams, when it will be seen as a terrible scandal...see the Rotorheads thread on same.

Agree with the sensationalism, but why would the Canadian media be interested in a model that's not in operation in Canada?

I think that this is not a helicopter issue at all. It is just how the world works and the way the media is. Only bad news get viewers, so they always up play the seriousness of things. Basically never mention the non events that happen all the time. One thing as an industry (heli) that we have a disadvantage of, is that helicopters to most people are a mystery, or somewhat unknown, this naturally invokes fear in most people already. Then add to the fact that they crash anywhere and can make headlines worldwide. Throw in the fact that a majority of people exposure to helicopters, is either the news (crashes) or the movies, where more then half end up crashing to add drama to the story. I personally do not give it too much energy, instead I work to achieve the safe flight for myself and my passengers so we can all go home at the end of the day. It helps the remember that helicopters have saved more lives then they have taken. Often your most dangerous time is the drive to the airport. Just my views. Fly safe

The purpose of the media is is to sell newspapers, etc. Truth is incidental.

phil

"Safety" and "Accident" statistics are often misleading.

This afternoon I was driving in South Humberside. On the A614 is a sign urging motorcyclists to take extra care. The stats on the sign said 4 motorcyclists had been killed on the road in the last 4 years.

Cynical old me now knows that the NHS is more dangerous than riding a motorcycle.

Add to that, " the more sensational the copy, the more sales."
Truth, perspective and research are only applicable if they can further the reporter's goal of selling more copy.