Celebrity 911: Should We Really Hear These Calls?

By Jo Piazza Posted Mar 17th 2010 07:37AM

Americans of a certain age were shocked and saddened by the untimely death of actor Corey Haim. As fans, we grow close to celebrities in our own way, and this superficial closeness breeds a hunger for as much information as possible about the tragic events that led up to Haim's death. But maybe there are some things we don't need to hear. Was it necessary for fans of Haim's work to listen to his distraught mother's phone call to 911, where she can be heard lamenting: "He's completely, completely gone"?

So where should the media draw the line when it comes to 911 calls that involve a celebrity? In the past few months, we've been privy to the final moments of Brittany Murphy's life, the aftermath of the marital dispute that led to Charlie Sheen's arrest and the discovery of heiress Casey Johnson's body, all through the airing of 911 tapes online and on-air.

While the tapes offer a first-hand account of these news stories, their dissemination raises some ethical questions over whether these very private and at times gut-wrenching moments should be made available to a mass audience.

"In many cases, a 911 tape can help clarify and paint a picture of what actually happened at a crime scene or accident. It's real drama caught on tape and sometimes the only record of a person's last moments alive," explains Linda Bell Blue, executive producer of 'Entertainment Tonight' and 'The Insider.'

The majority of 911 calls are part of the public record, meaning journalists not only have access to them, but are allowed to broadcast or reprint their content in various media outlets, including print, online or on-air.

"Because emergency services are publicly-funded, their content is a matter of public interest. The public has the right to make sure the government services are doing their job," explains attorney Steve Mindel of Feinberg, Mindel, Brandt & Klein in Los Angeles. "You have a balancing of the needs of the public and their right to know with the privacy of the individuals on these tapes."

It is at the discretion of news outlets whether to air a 911 tape and how to protect the privacy of an individual. In cases where the 911 caller isn't famous, but the call contributes to a news story, such as a case where a 911 call leads to a criminal arrest, the caller's identity can be masked to give them a measure of protection. But when it comes to the emergency calls of the rich and famous, the celebrity's identity is central to the decision to disseminate.

"There are a lot of valid journalistic stories that are incredibly compelling when it comes to 911 calls. I think that there is a skill in making those decisions that gets lost when you have a celebrity involved," says Kelly McBride, a member of the ethics faculty at the Poynter Institute, a school and resource for professional journalists.

On January 8, the Los Angeles Fire Department released a 911 recording from Dec. 20 of Sharon Murphy, mother of late actress Brittany Murphy. Sharon had found her daughter collapsed on the bathroom floor of her Beverly Hills home.

On the eight-minute recording, a distraught Sharon Murphy can be heard sobbing and wailing as she relays the dispatcher's instructions for performing CPR to Murphy's husband, Simon Monjack.

"My daughter's passed out ... they're doing mouth to mouth ... please get here," Sharon Murphy said to the emergency dispatcher.

At one point, an anguished Sharon Murphy calls out to her daughter, "Brittany, please come back!"

"The issue is whether they should be posted online and played on TV with no questions asked," says HLN's 'Showbiz Tonight' executive producer Dave Levine. "The release of the tape of Brittany Murphy's mother calling 911 was a gut-wrenching and arguably insensitive invasion of privacy. However, it is up to each individual site and news show to exercise proper judgment."

'Showbiz Tonight' opted not to air the Brittany Murphy 911 call.

McBride says that the reason behind airing or printing the contents of any 911 call as a journalist should be to educate the public about how their funds are being used for emergency services. "I do think you have to be brutally honest with yourself as a journalist and ask, 'Would I run this 911 call if I took the celebrity out of the story?' ... I think that there is a danger in backing into the justification for running it. I think the way that you test your theory is to ask yourself whether, as a journalist, if you remove, say, Charlie Sheen from the equation, would you run the 911 call? There are dozens of domestic calls each day like that one."

With the Murphy, Sheen and Johnson recordings all coming in succession, in addition to the release of a 911 call from the night Tiger Woods crashed his SUV into a tree last November, it may seem like the recordings of celebrity incidents are now more likely to be released into the public's hands.

Levine says that isn't the case. There just happen to be more outlets for entertainment news these days than there have ever been before, and there is also an appetite for celebrity news in mainstream outlets.

"I don't think celebrity 911 tapes are more prevalent these days, it just seems that way because once they are released, the prevalence of so many celebrity-driven Web sites drive them front and center into the public's awareness of them," Levine says. "And there is definitely a public appetite for them because, for better or worse, they provide raw, unfiltered, unscripted drama that even the best scripted drama cannot match."

As a journalist, I have to admit that I have been sucked into covering many a salacious celebrity story and welcomed 911 as an additional source, but I think the media needs to step back and make some real decisions about what merits the progression of a story and what merely serves up a dose of deathsplotation.

Tags: brittany murphy, Casey Johnson, charlie sheen, Corey Haim

Comments

(103)

Wednesday 17 March

By Jo

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Invasive, offensive, disrespectful, any other negative word one can think of! 911 calls should NOT be played whether the call is about a celebrity or not.There is no reason why I (underlined and boldface I!) need to hear someone's frantic moments especially when it is a life or death situation. I think the broadcasters who do this are totally out of line. Usually I have the remote nearby and can mute or turn it off, but in the case of Corey Haim, I couldn't reach it in time. These are bone-chilling things to hear and just so sad. I wish if these reports must me made, maybe print, but certainly not audio! It's just too much!

By Dove Knight

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I think your all taking this question too personally. It's not about you. It's about celebs. Yes, they make news. We don't. Get it yet?

By douttfire

Why do people think they have the inalienable right to barge into other people's lives? Listening to a 911 call is like imposing on their grief. What kind of knuckle-dragging ghoul needs that level of entertainment? Get a book! GET A LIFE, will ya? People call 911 during an emergency are in a heightened state of duress. That's not entertainment. If the tapes are necessary for a court case, then only the jury should hear them

By lynn2day

When deciding whether or not to use celebrity-related 911 calls in their report, these so-called 'journalists' should replace the name of the celebrity with their own name or the name of the person nearest and dearest to themselves.

If Jo Piazza made a 911 call regarding the death of her parent/spouse/sibling/child, would Jo want her own overwhelming fear, sorrow, grief, and anger made public? Of course she would! Because the public deserves to hear her sob and plead with her God and her loved one. It's the public's right to hear her scream at the 911 operator or EMT to do more, faster. Sure... Jo would want that.

Because she's a 'journalist'! For that reason she would understand that no matter how hurtful it was to her personally, or what light it shone on her loved one, making public the most personal phone call anyone will ever make... 'merits the progression of a story and not what merely serves up a dose of deathsplotation.'

By Nancy

This should stop....if hearing the 911 call is "gut-wrenching" for us--imagine the absolute pain the family members are feeling. My heart goes out to them....I am so very sorry for their terrible loss.

By Travis

Seriously, they'll play 911 Calls over the entire 6 o'clock news for normal, everyday, average joes like ourselves, but a celebrity gets special treatment. Sure, they bring us entertainment, and things like that, but they are normal people. This is just another way of showing how they constantly get special priviliges, just like the Hollywood Princesses who have gotten 3 DUIs in 6 Months and didn't go to jail. Seriously, we need to start treating them like normal people.

By dave1marine

Most 911 services are paid by taxes that ALL of us pay. In many states they are augmented by taxes on private phone services. For all of you who state that 911 calls should NOT be public information, just WHOM would you suggest should make that decision? It's a slippery slope when you start to edit public information of ANY manner.

By slimdave420

Should we hear the 911 tapes? No but i'm sure that's just a rhetorical question as i'm sure you have already posted a link to them.

I just don't understand why some of you WANT to hear these calls!! It's not about celebrities. As someone else stated, they play the 911 calls of ordinary citizens as well, not just celebrities! Are you excusing your prurient interest by saying that it's legal or that celebrities deserve it because they want to be in the limelight? That's absurd. The need to hear these people suffer is SICK!

By David

Celebrities are like monkeys in a cage. They make some noise and you walk over and look. They stop making noise, you walk away. It's very simple. Any 911 call or tape is just a momentary fascination with what could some idiot be up to now. There isn't anything shocking or invasive about listening. If it involves overdose, suicide or even murder - all the more interesting. It gives us something to talk about during break. Celebrities have no special rights to protect them from any privacy invasion. After all, if they are going to walk around half naked, then they can pretty well expect to be scrutinized. If that makes them unhappy, they can always walk away.

I only hope you were being sarcastic--altho I doubt it. But to say a tragic 911 call is "interesting" and provides you with a topic to discuss at break? Wow--that is really cold.

By Tanya Hernandez

What is the point behind this story??? WHO CARES if he was a celebrity, he wasn't even mainstream anymore. Why should they take this call into consideration??? Yet turn on your evening news and hear the 911 call of a child calling in while watching their mother being killed in a domestic dispute or home invasion! Now the media wants to get a conscience? Amazing...disgusting...

By hapatigg

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if the point of this article is to question the ethics of using 911 recordings for journalism and the author displays some sort of disagreement with the morality of it, then why are there numerous quotes from the celeb calls that were mentioned? sounds more like a BS journalist trying to write a half hearted article for personal interests and gain. good job to the editors for posting pointless crap...

By Johnny

I think we can all imagine what the call was like, a distraught mother frantically trying to get help for her son. We dont need to hear it, and if they want it private keep it that way.

By pynekone3

i think it is justified to air the 911 tapes. Not just of celebrities but anyone. most people do not understand what a baby found at the bottom of a swimming pool is like until they hear that 911 tape. Moms who hear that tape will be more careful with their children. People who are taking meds and coughing up a storm will think twice about not going to the doctor after brittanys death and crying mother on the phone with 911 is heard. Listening to these heart wrenching calls is itself a wake up call and should be shared~

By nikkileigh

I work in the medical field, and as far as I am concerned airing 911 calls is in HIPPA violation. I loved all the celebrities that have passed away this past year, and I am deeply saddened for their families for all of their loss. I feel these calls should be private, not only for celebrities, but for anyone! It is no ones business. We may be tax payers, I know we all work hard and help pay for all of these emergency services,but all medical services have laws, and HIPPA is one of them. They should be sticking to this celebrity or not!

By Kat

It's explotive, pure and simple.

By LALO

MORBIT !!!!!!

Monday 05 April

By Lori

Good God!!! Is nothing private anymore??? Even tragic 911 calls are open season for media vultures??? Where will it end??

By Matthew

I havent listened to any of these calls. I dont care about listening to them. It is such a private moment when things like this happen. These actors are people too! Imagine if it were you. your family member lying there dead.Would you want their last moments aired?

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