Helicopter coverage
- 8 Aug 07, 10:12 AM
The use of the News helicopter over the fields of Surrey to cover the foot and mouth outbreak has caused some consternation, on the part of the audience, and also the government, who clearly would prefer all our coverage to be at ground level.
One member of the audience wrote: "A helicopter should not under any circumstances be flying over the affected farm given that this is a windborne disease. I sincerely hope the slaughter, then removal, of the beautiful creatures will not be shown."
Let me say at once that we wouldn’t do or show anything which we thought might contribute to the spread of the virus, or cause unnecessary distress to viewers.
We were careful to take advice about the potential effects of using a helicopter, and whether its rotor blades could contribute to airborne transmission. That advice was that air is only disturbed at most by three times the length of the rotors. And at no time did our aircraft go below 1200 feet. The quality of the camera enables us to film from that height in sufficient detail.
I can also assure our correspondent that we did not and would not show the moment of culling on grounds of taste. We didn’t do this in 2001, and we see no reason to do so now.
As it happened, the government imposed an air exclusion zone over the affected area at the point when cattle were being herded into a pen to begin slaughter. It was put to us that we were hampering by frightening the cattle, and potentially spreading the disease. We were happy to comply.
Television does need pictures to tell a story. A comprehensive police cordon was in operation on the ground, for obvious reasons. Any attempt by us to walk or drive around to see what was happening could have helped spread contamination. The use of aircraft is an effective way to cover this type of story and possibly the safest as well.
Our teams are well aware of bio-security issues and are under strict instructions not to cross any cordons. Some of our staff were here into the early hours of the morning after the story broke, making sure our equipment was fully equipped with disinfectant and other safety kit. Of course we don’t want to do anything that might makes things worse. But while respecting the restrictions, it’s also our job to cover the story as comprehensively and informatively as we can.
Fran Unsworth is head of Newsgathering
