West Coast viewers of Sunday's U.S. 500 on ABC "had to
wait three hours longer than the rest of the country to
learn that the spectators injured in a crash during the race
had died," according to Scott Hettrick of the HOLLYWOOD
REPORTER. Viewers weren't told of the tragedies by ABC's
Robin Roberts until one hour after the replay of the race
had ended on "Wide World of Sports." Hettrick: "That report
had been broadcast live at about 5 p.m. on the East Coast,
an hour after the race had concluded." Hettrick writes,
"[R]ather than break in with a live report -- which was at 2
p.m. in the West -- during the taped replay of the race from
12-3:00 p.m., ABC simply let the tape of the East Coast
broadcast play out as it had three hours earlier." ABC
Sports Dir of Media Relations Mark Mandel "said Tuesday that
there was no intent to purposely delay news of the tragedy
and that upon reflection, the network could have handled the
announcement differently." Mandel: "If the timing didn't
serve our viewers on the West Coast, then we hope that they
come back" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 7/29). USA TODAY's Rudy
Martzke writes that ABC "can't be faulted for not reporting
the death before ending the telecast more than 45 minutes
later." Mandel: "Since we weren't allowed to go into the
stands to see what happened, we decided to concentrate on
the race." MI Speedway Dir of Public Relations Tom Cameron
said his group did not delay release of the news: "We
announced the fatalities as soon as we could accurately
gather the information (USA TODAY, 7/29).
