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Behind the scenes of award-winning TV news coverage of an urban disaster that unfolded in West Philadelphia in May 1985, when the city attempted to evict the radical residents of a rowhome, killing all 11 of them and burning down an entire city block.
Our team was on location for more than 72 hours non-stop, from the Mother's Day evacuation on May 12th through the day after the bombing and fire on May 14th, 1985. Reporters and photographers rotated through the assignment to keep the information up to date and the story elements fresh.
At the time, there were no personal cellular phones, but each live van had a phone installed. I can't imagine how we would have communicated without them. In this photo, Harvey Clark is on the phone with someone at the station getting information from sources gathered by the newsroom, while I am barking at him about something, I don't remember what. The technician leaning into the van was Tony Gore, whose ingenuity and tenacity helped us get a live picture of MOVE's rooftop bunker. Later, Tony's easy-going manner helped keep good relations with the police who had commandeered our live van on May 13th. Philadelphia Inquirer photo from May 14, 1985, by Bryan Grigsby, used with permission of the Inquirer.
This program gathered video highlights of the before, during, and after of the MOVE incident on May 13, 1985, and edited them with news conferences and interviews to try to put the events into context. Much has been learned about these events since 1985, so some of the things that were reported that day turned out to be either incorrect or only partially correct. Whether officials lied or were simply uninformed about things they said is for others to judge.
The program, titled “MOVE: What Really Happened?”, was produced and written by Tom Kranz and edited by Lindy Smalley. Executive Producer was the late Rick Friedman.
Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia hosted a panel discussion on coverage of the MOVE disaster on June 15, 2016, following the publication of “Liveshot”. Taking part in the discussion, held during the Pioneer’s monthly luncheon at the Bala Country Club in West Philadelphia, was author Tom Kranz, former Executive Producer Mike Archer, WCAU photographer Pete Kane, former reporters Harvey Clark and Bill Baldini, former photographer Frank Goldstein, and former anchor Steve Levy, who moderated the event. This is a video record of that panel.
