IN an unusual display of cooperation – and contrition – local TV stations in Denver say they will spare the Littleton high school students a media circus and will not send cameras to cover their return to classes Monday.
“We have discussed with the other local stations and I don’t know what they’re going to do,” say Patti Dennis, news director of KUSA, the local NBC station. “But we have decided not to go to school, barring any other kind of breaking news.”
The shootings at Columbine High last week have generated an outpouring of soul-searching among TV news people who say they are worried about compounding the harm already done by the gunmen.
TV reporters were criticized for chasing after traumatized students in the hours following the shootings.
If the camera ban is adhered to, Monday will be one of the rare cases when TV news execs have agreed among themselves to exercise restraint and forego covering a public event.
“The first day of those kids going back to school is a very private momenet,” says Roger Ogden, general manager of KUSA. “We owe it to them to respect their privacy.”
Meanwhile, the NBC station decided late yesterday it will not air the minseries “Atomic Train,” about an out-of-control locomotive loaded with nuclear weapons.
In the movie – scheduled to air May 16-17 – the train is headed for Denver.
“The last hour and 15 minutes has a lot of scenes that are stranglely reminiscent of what’s been happening around here,” Ogden told The Post.
“You even have this one bad guy in a trenchcoat firing a shotgun,” he says.
“You have to be in this community to understand that it’s not in anyone’s best interest at this time” to air the movie, Ogden says.
The movement to withhold TV cameras from the scene of Monday’s student return was begun by Angie Kucharski, the news director at KCNC, the CBS affiliate in Denver, execs said.
“We initiated the conversation out of a sense of responsibility and sensitivity to the students, parents and faculty of the schools involved,” Kucharski told The Post. “They’re enduring a difficult situation. Our intent is to do the responsible thing for the community.”
“It’s not a done deal yet,” says Diane Mulligan, news director of KMGH, the local ABC station.
“It is our intent to try and limit the amount of intrusion, at least locally … but we can’t say what’s going to happen on the network level,” she says.
An ABC spokeswoman said the network “plans to abide by whatever restrictions they come up with .”Officials at CBS and NBC could not be reached late yesterday.