It’s not often that you hear of carbon monoxide poisoning in relation to newsgathering, but that has been the situation at a TV station in New York City, according to the Daily News.
Four on-air reporters for WNYW-TV, the Fox outlet owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., and some other staton employees during the past few weeks had to go to the hospital for treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning they got in the station’s remote trucks. The on-air talent that had been stricken was Lisa Evers, Andrea Day, Nicole Johnson and Ti-Hua Chang.
The remote trucks, which are used by crews when they go on assignment, apparently have gas-powered generators to run their gear when the vehicles are parked. Gas-fueled equipment emits carbon monoxide, which can cause everything from headaches to death.
Reporter Evans became so ill from her carbon monoxide poisoning once that she was “disoriented while on assignment,” according to the News. She was later told by a doctor that if she had waited too much longer for help she could have died.
The union representing WNYW reporters got involved to make sure that the station remedied the dangerous situation. And WNYW has taken action. Management is installing new exhaust equipment on the generators and carbon monoxide detectors are being placed in the remote trucks.
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