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Tori Yorgey can now say she was hit by a car on live TV, but kept doing her job.
Yorgey, a reporter for WSAZ in West Virginia was hit unexpectedly from behind as she filmed a segment in Dunbar, West Virginia about a broken water main.
Despite being knocked off her feet by the vehicle, she got back up and continued the segment.
You can see the moment here:
West Virginia TV reporter @toriyorgeytv gets hit by a car but finishes her shot. \n\nTotal badasspic.twitter.com/n7VYD69Nzo— Marc Caputo (@Marc Caputo) 1642681341
While her fellow journalists appreciated Yorgey, they pointed out the dangers many reporters now face when asked to do solo shots without a camera operator with them.
She\u2019s making sure the woman who hit her with the car is okay? I\u2019m not sure that would be my move there— Molly Jong-Fast (@Molly Jong-Fast) 1642684921
Actually, here are the real questions:\n1. Why was she running her own live shot alone at 11pm in the dark?\n2. Why was she live in the street?\n3. Was the water main break THAT serious for her to be in that situation?\n4. Why didn\u2019t they kill the shot after she was hit?— Kyle Jones (@Kyle Jones) 1642685117
1) Wow, that Tori is amazing. She showed more guts and humanity in a few seconds than her Senator, Joe Manchin, has in his whole tenure.\n2) What the hell is wrong with the anchor that he barely reacts to a reporter being hit by a car on live TV? \n3) She should go to the ER, asap.— Joe Mills \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Joe Mills \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1642685312
It appears the reporter, @toriyorgeytv, was running her own live shot, being both reporter & videographer, which is dangerous. \nNobody\u2019s watching your back. \nGood news: She got a job in Pittsburgh. I hope she doesn\u2019t have to run her own live shots.https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/tv-radio/2022/01/12/tori-yorgey-wtae-tv-reporter-penn-state-philadelphia/stories/202201120128\u00a0\u2026— David Begnaud (@David Begnaud) 1642658926
Wildly, Yorgey also said on camera this is the second time she'd been hit by a car like this. The first time happened in college.
The anchor, clearly unsure how to react, asked her if she was “bumped down low or hit up high” by the car.
She replied:
“I don’t even know, Tim. My whole life just flashed before my eyes. But this is live TV and everything is OK!”
I feel like we should stop normalizing this stuff by calling finishing this live shot \u2018badass\u2019. \nJournalism is toxic enough, let\u2019s not glorify people getting hit by a car and then going back to work.https://twitter.com/marcacaputo/status/1484139232759369729\u00a0\u2026— Anar Virji (@Anar Virji) 1642715413
Damn she\u2019s a badasshttps://twitter.com/marcacaputo/status/1484139232759369729\u00a0\u2026— \u0421\u041e\u041c\u042f\u0410DE \u0421\u0410\u042f\u0422\u0415\u042f (@\u0421\u041e\u041c\u042f\u0410DE \u0421\u0410\u042f\u0422\u0415\u042f) 1642704346
Yeah, let's not romanticize *literally* getting hit with a car for the sake of journalism.https://twitter.com/MarcACaputo/status/1484139232759369729\u00a0\u2026— Brian Munoz (@Brian Munoz) 1642716933
Women are expected to just work through anythinghttps://twitter.com/marcacaputo/status/1484139232759369729\u00a0\u2026— melissa \u201ccancel student debt\u201d byrne (@melissa \u201ccancel student debt\u201d byrne) 1642716837
New York Times writer Sopan Deb found the footage "harrowing."
"It’s a good opportunity to remind people that in most markets, TV reporters are solo, shooting, editing, lighting and doing everything else themselves, while being paid little to do it. it’s a safety hazard."
this is a really harrowing clip\n\nand it\u2019s a good opportunity to remind people that in most markets, TV reporters are solo, shooting, editing, lighting and doing everything else themselves, while being paid little to do it. it\u2019s a safety hazard.https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1484027271753183234\u00a0\u2026— Sopan Deb (@Sopan Deb) 1642657367
i just noticed, by the way, this reporter is one man banding an entire live shot by herself during a SEVERE WEATHER ALERT\u2026..cmon— Sopan Deb (@Sopan Deb) 1642659819
AT NIGHT. infuriating.— Sopan Deb (@Sopan Deb) 1642659861
In fact, the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists says solo reporting is "one of the biggest risks to female journalists in the U.S. and Canada."
Lucy Westcott, emergencies director for the committee, says you can clearly see why in the footage.
“Ideally, the journalist would not have been sent out alone in the first place. . . . Just having a photographer out there with her, or another pair of eyes, may have prevented her from being hit by a car, which she of course could not see.”
This clip is bonkers for other reasons, but I\u2019m struck by the empathy gap between Tori Yorgey, who literally reassures the woman who just ~hit her with a car~ \u2014 and the WSAZ anchor, who responds to the incident like an irritated shift manager at an Amazon warehousehttps://twitter.com/marcacaputo/status/1484139232759369729\u00a0\u2026— Nate Chinen (@Nate Chinen) 1642701383
Yorgey is thankfully alright and will soon begin a new job in Pittsburgh, but the lessons of the dangers of solo reporting remain an issue to be addressed.