Media outlets like KWAM were forced to plan and assess coverage on Friday as Memphis authorities released bodycam video of the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old man who died three days after a traffic stop by police.
It seemed unthinkable our country would be dealing with another mind-bending, traumatic, and volatile situation nearly three years after the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The ensuing results of the release could not be predicted, but if Minneapolis was any indication, Memphis media could be sitting on a powder keg.
How a city prepares for such potential civil unrest is still a work in progress. The media in the same city also faces a sense of grave anticipation and must decide on which tactic when the video is released.
Kevin Davis, GM of KWAM Memphis, said his staff was busy continuously monitoring social media and keeping listeners updated on the air as much as they could before the release.
“We’d been planning on this coverage for a few days,” Davis said. “It was a sensitive and chaotic time. I think a lot of this has been driven nationwide in an attempt to stir up the situation. Some people were hoping for some type of violence. It’s just the nature of the situation. We were here to cover it regardless of what happened.”
When something like this is happening in your city, a news station might consider treading lightly, certainly reacting carefully. You’ll never quite know until you’ve faced it yourself.
“While we don’t condone any type of violence, we dealt with our coverage head-on,” Davis said. “A lot of the violence comes from progressive protestors. We’re generally conservative and pro-police, but we don’t condone violence.”
Davis, like many of us, cannot fathom what may have prompted what is being called an inhumane beating.
“If there’s another side of the story, we don’t know what it is,” Davis said. “The whole thing has been suspicious. Why such a brutal beating? I can say Memphis has been short about 400 officers for a while. Like many Democratically controlled cities, we’re seeing unchecked shootings, car-jackings, robberies.”
Davis said recruiting new officers has been difficult.
“I know the pay is low. We can’t recruit new officers from outside of the county. We have candidates in Arkansas and Mississippi close by that can’t work here as they don’t live in the city. It’s ridiculous.”
Davis said as a citizen, he’s shocked something like this has happened in Memphis.
“We don’t have a recurring issue with police violence,” he said. “Our biggest concern is the catch and release policies of felony criminals. Shelby County D.A. Steve Mulroy ran on a campaign to up the juvenile age to 25 years of age.”
Davis said his news department was on call and ready. As far as why the Memphis Police Department waited and planned for a 6:00 PM Friday release of the video, Davis has his own opinions.
“I think the reasoning was that the city employees would be home. Schools would be closed. All in an effort to reduce collateral damage. It’s kind of like building up for a Super Bowl. We should all be enraged by it. There’s always going to be boneheads intent on starting violence. Memphis is a very violent city, but strangely, when it comes to protests, it hasn’t been violent.”
A Black man was killed and Davis said the feeling around Memphis is people are heartbroken. They feel empathy and compassion.
“We have our own problems,” Davis said. “We have a lot of kidnapping attempts, car-jackings, gunfire into houses.”
Davis said things can be so bad in Memphis, you’re at a disadvantage not having a gun in your glove compartment.
Ben Deeter is a news anchor at KWAM in Memphis.
“It was all hands on deck,” Deeter said. “We heard from Mayor Jim Strickland, the President of the United States. The entire country had been watching it unfold. Our job was to relate information to the public. There have been a lot of pleas for peaceful protests.”
Any way you look at it, this is a disheartening story. Yet it has become part of what we are as a society. What could have triggered such a reaction by officers? At this point, it’s a mystery. As the video shows, officers used force that went beyond the pale.
“It could have been me,” Deeter said. “We had reporters deployed across the city. I was stationed downtown and we expected protests to take place. I talked with people on Beale Street, business owners, and tourists. There was a blues festival in town and there were a lot of people from out of state here.”
Jim Cryns writes features for Barrett News Media. He has spent time in radio as a reporter for WTMJ, and has served as an author and former writer for the Milwaukee Brewers. To touch base or pick up a copy of his new book: Talk To Me – Profiles on News Talkers and Media Leaders From Top 50 Markets, log on to Amazon or shoot Jim an email at jimcryns3_zhd@indeedemail.com.
