Smokee_2_7
02-27-2004, 04:49 PM
Yup,
How many times have we seen a news story run on paintball and thought "man, they should have focused more on saftey" or somthing like that? I've been upset SEVERAL times by media stories on our sport, especially in since the unfortunate incicent in california the other week. How many times have you thought "man, if I could get behind the camera, i'd set them straight". .
Well, last week i got that chance. In response to the nationwide attention to the cali incident, NBC 15 in mobile contacted us here at XPB last week and asked to do a story addressing paintball safety, and the accident earlier that week.
In order to make sure that none of my comments were taken out of context, I had a 30 minute discussion with the reporter BEFORE i let them turn the cameras on - - to make sure that he actually understood the circumstances around the accident, as well as the big 3 safety rules in paintball: goggles, plugs, and chronos. All this was to prevent the reporter from cutting the interview to 'sound good' and in the process removing key statements that stressed why paintball is as save as it is, when rules are followed properly.
Additionally, i was sick of hearing statements from the media like this "Paintball enthusiasts CLAIM that thier sport is safer than bowling". . . I wanted these guys to realize that this 'claim' was actually backed by government research- - - so I had the most recent APG article on hand for the reporter. .. siting the injury occurances. When they credit the source to the USG instead of me or some other player, it makes it more credible to the general public.
SO, after running the poor reporter through a half-hour of paintball safety and THOROUGLY explaining the accident in california, i let them turn the cameras on-- - We shot a ton of footage, and they edited it down, and added some old footage from XPB about 3 years ago that they had on file from the last story they ran.
Overall, im pretty happy with the result.
Check it out:
http://www.wpmi.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=88B68A16-1E22-4E39-B2F1-9271023E8A81
Carl
EDIT
is there anyone out there that can tell me how to download the video? I'd like to keep a copy of it on my pc. THanks.
How many times have we seen a news story run on paintball and thought "man, they should have focused more on saftey" or somthing like that? I've been upset SEVERAL times by media stories on our sport, especially in since the unfortunate incicent in california the other week. How many times have you thought "man, if I could get behind the camera, i'd set them straight". .
Well, last week i got that chance. In response to the nationwide attention to the cali incident, NBC 15 in mobile contacted us here at XPB last week and asked to do a story addressing paintball safety, and the accident earlier that week.
In order to make sure that none of my comments were taken out of context, I had a 30 minute discussion with the reporter BEFORE i let them turn the cameras on - - to make sure that he actually understood the circumstances around the accident, as well as the big 3 safety rules in paintball: goggles, plugs, and chronos. All this was to prevent the reporter from cutting the interview to 'sound good' and in the process removing key statements that stressed why paintball is as save as it is, when rules are followed properly.
Additionally, i was sick of hearing statements from the media like this "Paintball enthusiasts CLAIM that thier sport is safer than bowling". . . I wanted these guys to realize that this 'claim' was actually backed by government research- - - so I had the most recent APG article on hand for the reporter. .. siting the injury occurances. When they credit the source to the USG instead of me or some other player, it makes it more credible to the general public.
SO, after running the poor reporter through a half-hour of paintball safety and THOROUGLY explaining the accident in california, i let them turn the cameras on-- - We shot a ton of footage, and they edited it down, and added some old footage from XPB about 3 years ago that they had on file from the last story they ran.
Overall, im pretty happy with the result.
Check it out:
http://www.wpmi.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=88B68A16-1E22-4E39-B2F1-9271023E8A81
Carl
EDIT
is there anyone out there that can tell me how to download the video? I'd like to keep a copy of it on my pc. THanks.