Monday evening...6:00 newscast...comercial break. My co-anchor, Pam Saulsby, and I are told in our earpieces by our producer..."Heads up guys. We just got the 911 tape from the accident (that killed four teenagers Saturday night), and we're going to use a small part."
Before we could learn the context and what the script contained we were out of the break and the red light was on. Pam read the script, then paused for the sound clip.
"They're burning up... They're burning up."
That sound is now burned onto the hard drive of my psyche.
In my twelve years at WRAL I have never felt so low.
We have good people working here. Intelligent. Dilligent. Hard working. Creative. Compassionate.
We're also under pressure to get information to people as quickly as we can... and sometimes, not often, but sometimes we rush it. Last night, we rushed it big time.
We are better than that. All of us. Beginning with me.
For any of you who may have been offended, I sincerely apologize and hope you will give me a chance to rebuild the trust.
