I was on the local news discussing paintball saftey

[Smokee_2_7]

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.

[Z-man]

Hey that is great! It's good to get someone talking about the sport who knows a bit about it! I take my hat off to ya.

EDIT: I think I (and perhaps we) should send the author and news site a little email thanking them for one of the better articles I have seen that was put out by the news. I sent a small note off to:

richardallyn@clearchannel.com

[shartley]

Fantastic. Good to hear.

I get tired of misinformation and even reporters not knowing a single thing about the topic they are trying to report on. A little background information wouldn’t hurt them any before they START.

I was interviewed by a civic group while at Adventure Games Paintball Shop in Manchester, NH this past month and some of the same things were brought up, as well as some really silly questions.

Good job at helping set the record straight.

[angelbeast24]

props to you bro is good that some1 is tellin the public about the good sides of our sport

[Odder]

Now there is some responsible journalism, Great job Carl !!

[Doobie]

OUTSTANDING! :D
Great job! My hat is off to you and the reporter for keeping the sensationalism down and the real facts up front! Congrats! :D

[MayAMonkeyBeYourPinata]

I think this says enough :D

[WenULiVeUdiE]

Now if we could only have somone do that on news shows all over the country. NYC, LA, Denver, San Fran., Orlando etc. That could really make our sport look good, or at least make people not look so far down on it.

[Smokee_2_7]

thanks guys, Im glad to see that it went off so well, also.

Z-man, I think that its a GREAT idea that we send tons of email to the reporter. Before we started filming he was actually suprised that i already knew ALL the facts of the california accident. I breifly explained the huge internet presence and networking of paintball and its players. Tons of sound, professional 'thank yous' from everyone can do nothing but help future coverage of our sport. Additonally, Im trying to get him and the rest of the crew from nbc 15 to come out and play, and maybe do a bit on the 'fun' side of paintball. If they get a couple hundred or thousand positive emails in response to this little story, I imagine that it will encourage them to come out and play- - giving paintball more POSITIVE media coverage in the gulf coast area- - and hopefully trickling down through the rest of the country.

Carl
edit*
WenULiVeUdiE, Thats my plan. .. if we can get a national news affiliate (nbc) to start covering paintball in this way more often. . . . . . . like i said, please send emails.

[rpm07]

A big props to you and the reporter. Nice job

[FreakBaller12]

Yea, nice job man. That was very informative for non ballers.:D

[Rope a Dope]

Geee.. I liked how they had their news icon of a UZI sitting on top of paintball goggles.

:rolleyes:

Anyways, good work man, that was a positive report, unlike the national ABC news one that EVERY soccer mom watched the other night... :(

[mjs1217]

Great job man, I couldn't be happier about that report, other than the fact that the news icon was an uzi on top of a paintball mask.
Here is how to save it:


1. RIGHT CLICK this link: http://video.wpmi.com/viewer/content/special.php?Art_ID=3628&Format_ID=2&BitRate_ID=8&Contract_ID=-1
2. Click Save Target As...
3. Select a location on your computer where ya want it.

Thats it, enjoy.


-mjs

[Methylphenidate]

first off great story

on a liter not i thought it was kinda comical how they put the goggles over the camera lens.

[islandboi]

haha yea and you could hear the guy breathing heavy and the uzi on the goggles

overall great article good job clearing things up i sent in an e-mail

[Big_Chops]

nice job bro. they will prob only show that once on t.v. because its a good story. notice how they show the bad things a lot. like that "EAGLE" scout killing somebody. i think that was bogus. making a big deal about being a eagle scout. hurts us other eagle scouts:(

[Digits]

Good job

[Woogie12]

Great job man :D

[Miscue]

Good job!

[rkjunior303]

Great story.. I went ahead and wrote a letter to Mr. Allyn.. This is what I wrote:


Mr Allyn,

I recently was able to catch your piece on the safety of paintball over the internet and I wanted to thank you for a wonderful report. It is very rare these days that news stories concentrate on the positive aspects of the sport, which made me pleased to see this video. In lieu of the accident that happened recently, there have been alot of talk about how safe paintball really is. I feel you and your staff did a wonderful job conveying that with the appropriate safety concerns, it is one of the safest sports available to play.

Again, Thank you for a wonderful piece. Hopefully, this has sparked an interest (if there wasn't already) to experience the thrill of the game yourself.

Regards,

Rob Kenny
Easton, Ma.

[Smokee_2_7]

wow. nice email. It would be great if we can get these guys to come out and play.

Carl

[arsonpaintball06]

i wish i could talk to my local news about paintball lol

[wolverine85929]

Good job:D

[Ultimator]

Aw man ... they didn't put any of the videos of me shooting you guys up and diving into the 50.

Oh well :)