Media Ignorance in Tucson

A CBS News report headlined "Erica Hill talks to 61-year-old Patricia Maisch, who grabbed the ammunition cartridge from the alleged gunman in the Tucson, Ariz. shooting rampage."


Erica Hill, does the intro to the interview, "...about how she stepped in on Saturday, and grabbed the ammunition cartridge the alledged gunman could have reloaded. And it all happened of course in the middle of the chaos.


The 61-year-old Patricia Maisch describes not running, dropping to the ground, the woman next to her being shot, then the gunman on the ground, next to her and people saying "get the gun!"

She continues "...he also pulled out another magazine out of his left pocket, which he dropped on the pavement and I was able to get before he did. At the same time another gentleman had picked up the gun, so he (Loughner) was secured."

Hill, "So you got that ammunition? and We've heard accounts that he had up to 90 rounds of ammunition with him."

Maisch, "I don't know..."

Later in the interview Maisch remarks being on his (the gunman's legs), "...after I got the clip, he was struggling an kicking his legs, so I knelt on his leg..."

So this elderly civilian knows it was a magazine, (or a clip - which is a common term ), but the person's who issupposed to informed us creates something called "an ammunition cartridge?"

Ammunition cartridge means nothing. That's bad enough, couple it with her description of it as something the "gunman could have reloaded," reveals a lack of basic familiarity with firearms.

Hill doesn't know how to properly describe what has happened, and for some reason, chooses not to use the (correct) words her interview subject has given her.

With such a gap in knowledge, can she effectively report this story? I doubt it.

The video is here.