There’s been a series of national stories on recent acts of violence. Should our TV News station do a series on how to defend yourself against violent acts? Or would that just generate an irrational fear of violence in our viewing audience when they are far more likely to die from dietary issues or car crashes?
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I think self defense is always something important to understand and know how to do. I think it should be a class that is required just like a driving class is, in many states. I do think the TV news station should do a series on how to defend yourself against violent acts. This allows people to get educated just by watching tv and if people fear it or do not want to watch it they are able to turn it off. People are more likely to die from car crashes or dietary issues that is true, but it is still good to be educated and know how to protect yourself.
I agree with your thoughts and explanation. After all, news is all about informing and educating right? Self defense is a great educational segment for viewers and shows that they care about their viewers physical well-being and ability to stay safe.
I think it is ok to include self-defense in a series about violence, but that should not be the focus of every episode in the series. I believe we should do a series on violence with elements: where we define the various types of violence; provide statistics on violence locally and nationally; how to avoid violent situations; what to do if you are a victim of a violence act or know someone who is being violated; and to end the series, perhaps hold a town-hall style meeting about violence in our local community. I feel providing our viewers with facts, rather than fear-mongering, is the best way to approach this situation.
I agree that that would be the best way of approaching the situation! I am glad that you agree that knowing how to defend yourself is still important because many people do not know how to and I think if this was common information it would be beneficial.
The key here is to stress NOT to panic or succumb to hysteria while we explain the importance of preparedness and self defense. Education and awareness are essential for human life and society. Burying our heads is not helpful and we should not participate in such acts so as to try to avoid possible audience fear. We don’t go about living our lives thinking we are going to be robbed do we? But we still prepare for the possibility. We still lock our doors and/or install security cameras. We still prepare and prevent. Anything is possible, being aware of the dangerous possibilities can be the difference between being a victim or a survivor.
So, I think we should do a segment on self-defense and frame it as ‘preparedness and prevention’ while also stressing not to panic or succumb to fear.
Kristina, I agree with you. Panicking would not help anyone, and having the public educated about the types of self-defense that they could learn to protect themselves would be a great way to empower the people. Safety should be something that we should practice all the time, not just when something is on the news.
I did not think about that part of it! It is true that people prepare for bad situations like locking their doors at nights and taking the keys out of their four-wheelers that are sitting in the yard and that does not make them worry, they simply are just being conscious. The reason these decisions and acts don’t make people think twice I because its common safety taught to people by their parents and has been passed down from parents to children for decades. If we made protecting ourselves from all types of violence more common while teaching people not to fear and just to be educated, it would be more beneficial to our society as a whole.
Exactly! It is common safety practices which have been taught to us, sometimes repeatedly. Self defense shouldn’t be seen any differently. In fact, it should be seen as one of the more important safety practices and lessons with more effort placed on it being available and provided.
I wish we could teach a class on how to be a decent human being, but since that probably wouldn’t work, then yes I do think we should do whatever we can to help people feel prepared. I’m not sure what types of violence this question is referencing, but we should educate viewers on how to help themselves if they ever find themselves a victim of violence. For example, in 2013 a University of Oregon sociology professor conducted a study with college students that found “women who took a ten-week self-defense training were significantly less likely to experience unwanted sexual contact than those who didn’t.” Self-defense training helped women increase awareness of potential threats around themselves and increased confidence in their physical and verbal ability to resist threats. While the chance of actually encountering the violence references in the question may be low, it will probably make our readers feel better and calm nerves if they feel more prepared in general.
https://cascade.uoregon.edu/spring2013/social-sciences/are-women-safer-when-they-learn-self-defense/
I really like that you pointed out that self defense knowledge increased confidence and resulted in a higher ability/likelihood to physically and verbally resist threats. I can see how a typical aggressor/attacker would not target a woman who comes off confident and strong, but rather a person they feel would be an easy victim.
Media coverage on how to defend yourself against violent acts is far from inciting irrational fear of violence in the public. This would be a great segment to do. People go about their lives clueless and naïve to many things. Covering this topic might open some eyes and possibly even save a life some day. I believe this would be an effective use of air time and would promote caution rather than fear.
I believe that it is always a good idea to promote self-defense. Having the media cover a series on this is not inciting fear or violence; it is empowering people to take control of their own lives. By showing the audience different types of self-defense that they could take part, in the media is participating in educating the public on how to protect themselves from violence and those that would like to victimize them. People want to hide from reality and think that violence will not find them. However, if a person is prepared, they are more likely to not only survive but can avoid a violent attack against them.
“It is empowering people to take control of their own lives.” Bravo! I could not have said it any better myself and it is absolutely true!
When it comes to self defense, I think that it is so important for everyone to have at least some sort of basic training. I think that it would be beneficial to have a tv series that was related to learning how to defend yourself, and what to do in any type of violent situation whether you were the one being attacked, or if you were a bystander. I also think that there are far worse shows that set enough fear into people already. I do not think that a series on self defense will do any harm. No one would be forcing anyone to watch the show. It would simply be an opportunity to learn something that could save your life or someone else. Yes, there are many more ways that someone could die at a higher probability, but I would rather be safe than sorry.
Sophia, I see your reasoning and agree that a series of self-defense videos might be beneficial but from my experience, a single watch through of a video may open your eyes to what’s involved, but it won’t fully teach you on what to do.
For example, you are walking to your car in a dark parking lot from the grocery store. A guy grabs you from behind and his squared out so you can’t stomp on his toes. His arms are around your middle and he could easily pick you up. What do you do?
A video on this would be beneficial but to fully understand the concept you need to train for this certain move. You need to feel what it’s like to have pressure applied to your middle in that stance and you need to feel the way the move works for it to be successful. Does that make sense?
Basically, I think for people to actually be able to defend themselves, they need to train for it. Just watching a little video is not preparing yourself. At my bjj gym, we have lots of people who come in who have watched mma or watched videos online about fighting. They havent trained before or maybe attend one class. They feel prepared, ready for a fight. In almost all cases, 99.99% of people who come in with this mindset, fail horribly and get submitted. (In a controlled way of course. A tap of a “Ok, I’m done.” and the partner lets them go.)
Imagine if this was real life? They wouldn’t have survived.
Yes, I believe it would be highly beneficial for this TV News station to do a series on self defense because it is better to be prepared for a situation than to have a false reality believing “harm could never come to me.” I understand that people would likely feel scared if the television addressed violence more, but it is unsafe to be ill-informed and thinking that you could never experience a life-threatening situation. It would most definitely create an irrational fear because anyone at any time can experience danger and how could they deal with it if they never practiced ways to survive. If proposed in a serious but not-too-intense way, many people would greatly benefit from watching the series and be confident in the face of danger.
Kortney,
You make a great point when you said “harm could never come to me”. I think most of us have that mentality when watching the news, especially because half of the time the content displayed is so extreme or over-hyped that we don’t even see it as reality, but a form of entertainment. Great post.
I’m not sure, I feel like doing a story on self defense might incite some sort of panic in our anxiety driven viewers. While I do believe self defense is something people could benefit from, I do believe it should be something they choose to go learn on their own. I also understand that people will choose to watch this series or not, and that’s essentially the same thing has choosing to take a class or not. However, simply rewording from self defense to something more friendly? Like, mentioned above, might help those who feel anxiety over violence.
I agree that presented in a poor or fragmented way would not really be helpful and could create more anxiety than empowerment. A realistic overview of how few situations are truly dangerous and simple solutions might be more helpful….with a short section on how to handle the odd situation where physical violence is a threat.
If there was any panic or anxiety, it would kind of prove the need for a self defense class. Society has become increasingly wimpy and would rather hide than face things. That scared reaction to a self defense segment or airing just shows even more, the need for it. We need to stop being victims or rolling over and allowing ourselves to be victims. We need to start being survivors and preparing for the possibility of being a survivor.
I think our TV News station should definitely do a series on how to defend yourself against violent acts. There’s nothing wrong with self-defense. Knowing what to do and when to do it could certainly save a person’s life. Being educated on how to be aware (especially when you’re alone), always paying attention to your surroundings and the people around you, and how to avoid dangerous situations can definitely help avoid danger. Being equipped for something that could possibly happen one day can undeniably lower the risk of being a casualty. Trusting your instincts is also important as well as knowing when to fight or escape. A series like this would be more beneficial than anything as a person can never be too prepared. While our audience are more likely to die from a car crash than a violent act I think that viewers would appreciate and retain the information with hopes that they would never have to use it.
I really agree with this perspective. Knowing how to de escalate or avoid physical altercations is probably the very most useful. Some basic physical protective or reflective movements could also be helpful but understanding the whole picture of practicing respect and safety would be the best communication from the series.
Self Defense is a great thing to teach everybody. The fact that there is not a lot of violence near us does not mean that there is a lack of it in the world. The day and age of everyone getting along with each other is far from the horizon unfortunately. The Best thing to do is give them the wisdom and exposure so that they can prepare. The worse thing possible is you give them the tools to hurt people but think of it this way if you ban guns only the good citizens are effected the bad people that always have done back dealings will still be doing just that, back deal. Nothing will change except the balance between the the two. This will change the tied of the world we think we live in towards one were the strong survive and the weak stay that way. The only way to curve this is to teach everything with a moral unpolitical agenda and to strengthen your bounds between friends and family to help reinforce the message. There will always be a good and evil and that is the simplest way to teach things to young people let them be in charge of how they use the knowledge just have to be there to explain the teachings in as many ways need to get the message of the difference of good and evil. I mean who wants to be a bad guy?
I think a series such as that would be beneficial and if pressented in the right way, informational and possibly life saving. By highlighting the issue and exploiting horrific stories and cautionary tales this could quickly turn into a fear mongering broadcast, but if the stations true intent is to inform viewers, this has the potential to be good programming. Defending yourself againt violent acts, or ‘self-defense,’ could also be low intensity suggestions and recommendations for audiences to be reminded of such as locking doors, not traveling alone or maintaining a curfew. By providing resources such as links/phone numbers for viewers to access could also be another form of passive programming for such a series, and may save the news station from facing any issues in the future concerning the promotion of self-defense or related topics. I don’t think any station/channel would be capable of streaming instructional how-to’s such as a free karate class, but the idea of actionable content could be appealing. However, if the station was to attempt to instill fear into the audience by their use of editting and ‘helpful’ defense advice, I believe it could be easily done.
No, I do not think the TV news station should do a series on how to defend yourself against violent acts. I feel like, more times than not, whenever the media decides to get involved with something it blows up and usually not in a good way. I believe if people saw a series on TV about this, some hysteria would start and it would trickle down. TV sensationalizes many things, especially violence. The news is there to report on what is happening and that is it. It should be unbiased and fact base, even though this is usually far from the case.
Right now for example, with COVID-19 the media is reporting on that daily and I am seeing conflicting reports from different news sources and articles. Some are creating a much worst-case scenario then it needs to be. I know this is a serious situation, but I have heard and read awful things people are doing now.
So you don’t agree with educating viewers and teaching them that they need to know how to protect themselves in case of violence which is common? So they shouldn’t do anything at all about it because “some tv sensationalize things and should only report on what is happening.” ? Violence is happening, more than you apparently care to believe. Educating viewers on how to defend themselves isn’t harmful. Not educating them would be more harmful.
This is a hard question to answer because the public can interpret it either way. If the TV News station was going to do a series on how to defend yourself against violent acts, then I think it would beneficial for the public. Knowing how to defend yourself will always be useful and the series could educate you on how to be aware of your surroundings. I do think the TV News station would be helpful, but I would much rather want to learn how to defend myself in an in-person class, but that can just be a personal opinion. Or if there was a TV series, then I think it should show things like how to avoid harmful situations and trusting your instincts rather than just learning how to be defensive with fighting. On the other hand, I do not think the TV News station would beneficial because it can cause fear within the community. It can be shown as overdramatic since it is a TV show. And who knows if the situations are accurate and if they will just cause anxiety. There are too many times when TV stations and the news cause worse scenarios than it needs to be which makes people panic. There are many things in the world that are overdramatized and not accurate which causes a worry in the word, which is something the TV News stations would not want to do.
I think introducing a self defense series to a tv station would be a good idea to help inform people on what to look for in potential hazardous situations or what to do in such circumstances. I think the fear I would have is making sure whoever is in charge of this series, is staying the course and not swaying away from the overall message or simply instilling that fear into people, the way media today has a tendency to do. It is weird to think that we have mandatory classes as we grow up to instruct us how to drive or perhaps use weapons, but there is no mandatory self defense class even at the most beginner level, in order to inform a person what to do in potential bad situations. While I do think this is a good idea, I believe it needs to be often regulated to make sure the overall objective is being displayed.
Introducing a self defense series would be a good idea, as long as we are careful to avoid creating excessive fear in our audiences. It would have to be a short run series and we could bring in law enforcement officers to help demonstrate techniques. That way it would help the program appear more official and the presentation could be worked so as to keep from feeding fear in our audience.
I agree it would be better to lead with caution rather than pushing fear. I also think that if this was to air it could also in turn provide family time. Once a parent sees and starts learning they are more likely to have there kids join in. There by raising confidence and caution in both adults and kids.
Being informed and feeling prepared should do the OPPOSITE of generating an irrational fear of violence. I think knowledge is power in any form. We should do a series on how to defend yourself and more importantly how to take precautions in your daily routine to avoid being a victim of violence in the first place. A few shows could focus on actual self defense but others should focus on making adjustments such as walking in groups, being aware of your surroundings, locking doors, which areas to avoid, how to work with neighbors to look out for each other, and where to go or who to call if you need help. Rather than scare people this should empower them to feel like they are doing what they can to avoid the violence in the first place.
Isn’t this what is going on now with all the information about Coronavirus? Every day on the news we see how many cases and how many deaths but they are constantly reminding people to socially distance, wash their hands, wear a mask etc. While I don’t necessarily like hearing about this everyday it IS probably saving lives by informing and reminding people of how to be safe. I don’t think our series would be any more scary than what we are living through right now. We would also be informing people and reminding people how to be safe, and this information could also save lives.
The news station’s job is to report the news. Not to tell people how to live or what to do; end of story. This is a line that must be held else we risk the “news†becomes propagandized. The news station could provide local resources for topics (in this case self-defense), but doing a show on how do defend yourself is out of the scope of a News Station’s functional ability and is not ethically sound and is a danger to basic principles on which the news media is founded on.
I believe the news station has one job; report the news as it is. Completely whole, truthful, and without exaggeration. (Many if not all news outlets fail at this)
Broadcasting news about recent acts of violence is the news outlet’s job. People will deal with the fear of that violence each in their own way.
I don’t think sharing a show on how to defend yourself will benefit as many people as intended. For one, learning how to defend yourself is something that must be done in person. You need a coach and a training partner to effectively learn the skills of self-defense, be it hand to hand combat, how to control and enemy with a knife or gun, and/or learning how to operate a weapon yourself to stop a bad guy with a gun from hurting others.
These aren’t skills you can learn to the fullest potential from just a video. (Though shooting a gun is fairly straightforward. You just need practice.)
However, I think the news station could broadcast local weapon retention classes, mixed martial arts classes, and specific women’s self-defense classes that will be offered in town or in a nearby town. Maybe even just an ad that suggests going to find a gym or academy to learn how to defend yourself. I don’t think that a video will save very many people.
Speaking from experience, I’ve trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu for almost 9 years, a martial art that requires constant dedication. You can’t learn how to defend yourself from watching a little video on takedowns and chokes. You need to immerse yourself in it to even get an idea of what it’s like to be attacked and what to do to defend.
In essence, let’s not post a self-defense video but rather point audiences towards resources.
There is still helpful things which audiences could learn from the segment however. Just because some learn better in person, that means a show shouldn’t air at all? I remember a story once that a girl escaped a kidnapping because she remembered a video on how to escape from various bindings such as zip-ties. I’m sure she was glad that video aired, don’t you?
I think a series on how to defend yourself against violent acts would be a great idea. I don’t really think this would generate any irrational fears for our audience. In fact, I believe quite the opposite could occur. We may end up boosting the confidence of our viewers after they become more comfortable with defending themselves. Also, I think in the privacy of one’s own home, people are more likely to practice what they are learning on tv, rather than going out to a gym and signing up for a self-defense class. This makes our series that much more valuable, and worthwhile. Not much can be made against the argument that you are more likely to die from dietary issues or a car crash, this is most likely true. But both diet and driving are skills that you can learn and better yourself at so you are safer on the road, and have a healthier body. Much like those two examples, defending yourself is just another skill that can help better yourself.
While I think spending part of the series on self defense, that entails so much more than learning something like martial arts. Rather, the common sense of how daily life and interactions can escalate and a whole approach of awareness, assertiveness, and setting boundaries authoritatively would be a wonderful and realistic start.
Real information about what sort of behavior and relationships minimize danger or put you in harm’s way would be one good way to start. For the smaller amount of risk that is attributable to external situations, knowing to how to carry oneself, staying in well lit places with others can be enough. A firm word, confident stride or safety whistle/pepper spray That said, simple self defense strategies or movements could certainly be incorporated and part of empowering individuals.
I think it would be productive for our TV News station to do a series on how to defend yourself against violent acts. I do not think this would give people irrational fears as long as they are communicated the correct information, and the series is taught in a way that makes people feel empowered, opposed to feeling defenseless. Although someone is much more likely to die from dietary issues or a car crash, I do not think this is a good reason to not educate people on self defense because it is not as if people are unaware of the health effects of bad eating or the risks of driving, they make their decisions having this knowledge in mind. However, when someone is attacked, they do not choose to get attacked, so resources, such as our series, should be put in to give people a way to gain some control over bad situations they might unexpectedly find themselves in. This may be an especially good time for the self defense series because the frequent news about violence may be starting to make people feel unsafe.
I think there’s a way to present self-defense information without raising fear. If you start with and share information and statistics about the likelihood of being attacked (and compare it to other incidents) it could be beneficial. However, it is important to encourage others to not be fearful and that self defense tactics are just always good know in any circumstances, even in the safest areas. I think that if you keep it positive and enlightening it will help more people. While doing this, you also have to be responsible about the way you are reporting the string of attacks outside of this specific series.
I think this could be a great segment if done right. It shouldn’t make us irrationally afraid of violence, rather, it should educate us and inform us about the facts of violent crime: how common it is, types of violence, red flags to watch out for, and finally, how to defend ourselves if we are unfortunate enough to be in a violent situation. Not being clueless about violent crime is an important life skill, especially for vulnerable groups.. An educational TV show would help raise awareness on this, and teach people what to do if they are ever in a bad situation. I think this is especially important in our culture where most people’s exposure to violence is in fictional TV series or movies. These shows don’t offer realistic depictions of violence or self defense, so correcting these misconceptions is a commendable goal.
I don’t think we should advertise the violence and just stick to regular programming. Still report on it as if it wasn’t a big deal but don’t go so far as to teach self defense on the air. Sure we can recommend some training locations or have numbers to call for more information but whipping the public into a frenzy is not the solution. Take the current Corona Crisis for example. Yes people have died, yes it is something to actively shield yourself from but the media has hammered on this point so much in the past three months that now instead of a calm public going about their business with a few precautionary measures in place, the mindless masses are buying every glove and mask they can find, freaking out about cleanliness as if it was suddenly the new iphone, and acting like the Rona is some sort of world ending event when in reality they should be able to go about their lives while practicing some social distancing, washing their hands a little more frequently, and this whole thing will blow over before you can vote for president. Point is that by focusing so intently on this issue the media has whipped it up into something much bigger than it should be and that doesn’t make us any safer. By advertising that the public needs to take self defense classes for this string of events doesn’t make us any safer, it just makes people more afraid.
Given the current state of what the people in our country is going through, this is a very important topic. Violence is something that occurs on a day-to-day basis and having the ability to protect ourselves is essential. The physical confrontation that these people go through with being exposed to tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and just being hit in general from those who “abide by the law” is outrageous. The people protesting is a reasonable, predictable and inevitable reaction to the many many many years of injustice and oppression. News outlets have graciously done their jobs of informing the public of the unacceptable consequences of people performing their right to express what is wrong. Unfortunately, the news outlets job is just that. To inform the public on recent and important things that are going. It is not their job to teach us how to defend ourselves. I think that it is something that you can easily find on the internet and watch videos. They can offer and advertise different places or websites that can be beneficial for defending ourselves. They can also bring someone on that teaches self defense to go over a few things but I don’t necessarily believe they need to be the ones to do it.
Reporting on the facts is the most important job of the TV new station. Yes, they should be reporting on the violence going on but only the facts that are available not people’s personal opinions. It is when both personal opinion and facts are being mixed together as a report is when fear is placed. That should be avoided while still being honest about what is going on. However, giving listeners information on self defense would be a benefit if done correctly. Perhaps if they are not comfortable about doing demonstrations then perhaps have segments with defense instructors. Were they would come in and discus the benefits of taking classes. Either way the best thing for the news station is for them to do their job and report facts not opinions.
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I agree that TV stations should do a series regarding on how to defend yourself against violence act, because we all need to learn about to defend ourselves. We all need to learn just like before we can drive a car. So, I think most of the people would like to get educated about violent acts, and for those who does not, they can just turn off their televisions and change it to a different channel.
This is a perfect discussion post with what is currently happening in our country. In Portland, Oregon, Trump has allowed federal agents in unmarked vans to arrest protesters at their own discretion. These rallies are against police brutality, which ironically enough has caused police brutality to sky rocket in these highly populated cities. If a news station was to do a series on how to defend one’s self against violent acts, it would be for protestors and how to defend themselves against police. U.S. protestors have learned a lot from the protests and riots that happened in Hong Kong a few months ago, where the police there were brutally hurting peaceful protestors much like they are here. The leaf blower and umbrella shields tactic are incredibly successful with teargas, as well as carrying around orange traffic cones and water to put out teargas. Funnily enough, these tactics were learned from social media and also from the news coverage in Hong Kong. With secret police and unmarked “military” personnel, and now unmarked federal agents being allowed into cities, it is incredibly important citizens know their rights and how to protect themselves. Unfortunately I do not think this is a news stations job, and instead should be sought after within the Internet. This goes into my other discussion post agreeing that internet access should be a right to everyone.
I think that we should establish what violent acts we’re trying to cover first as violent acts is a pretty broad term when used here. Are we talking about muggings or something like a potential mass shooting? If we are going to show tips for how to defend yourself, we should stick to the basics. A simple trick is easier for people to grasp as opposed to a complex strategy. We also need to be very careful about what we show and how we show it. The last thing we need is people who watched our series trying to use the wrong or improper technique and getting hurt or killed in the process. I think as long as we stress that self defense is a skill that requires practice and patience and we give simple and easy to use knowledge, it would be a useful series for everyone.
If the crime rate was increasing and it was unsafe for the community then this idea would be perfect. It doesn’t matter whether or not someone might die from dietary issues or car crashes, death does not judge. Accidents happen everyday so having a series in the news of how to defend yourself will be great for the community. I know they’ll be conflict about children learning how to fight/protect there selves. We teach kids karate for there safety. So I. Would be. 100%. Behind this idea.
I think raising awareness is always better than talking about it when it’s too late. With the media exposure to the violence that is already occurring raising additional awareness on protection would not increase fear if it was done appropriately. A simple series or commercials with short to the point ways to protect oneself against potential threats or violence would be a good angle to start at. It is hard to disagree that one can never be too prepared. The segments could be as simple as watching out for your surroundings, limit cell phone distractions, or locking car/home doors. These are all means of self-defense without raising additional fear in people. This is a good reminder of what most of us already know or have been taught, but it might have been tucked away because we tend to get comfortable.
All that a segment like this would to is drive fear into people that they are next. I’d say the best course of action is to report it, and make sure people know about it but to not glorify it.
The point of a news station is to report on the news, which the station is doing when they are telling people about recent acts of violence. Now it may be ok to stay to people that it might be a good idea with the rise in these kinds of acts to learn some self-defense, I do not think the station should do a series. If there did a short segment about where you could find information about self-defense techniques but teaching them on the station is a bad idea. One people may care or want to learn which means you are taking away from time that should be spent reporting the news. Second if you do a series and someone gets attacked and gets seriously hurt because they tried the techniques they saw once on tv they could potentially blame the station. At most the station could do a 10 min clip on where to you could possibly find good self-defense skills, but I would say anymore than that and it would be crossing a line. As a news station you are supposed to report the news should not tell people what they should do, that is there choice so let them make the choice by providing places where they can do find the information if they want to learn. Lastly don’t think doing a series would help anyone feel safer it would probably just make them more likely to fight an attacker and get more injured because of improper training and knowledge.
I think doing a series on self-defense would be fine. There’s nothing wrong about educating the public on how to properly defend themselves, just as long as the series sticks to the education aspect. Sticking to the facts and avoiding rhetoric and imagery is best in this scenario, as otherwise we may be spreading unnecessary fear. Either way, I’m not sure a short series on self-defense will do much, as it seems the best way to learn proper self-defense would be in person. Some education wouldn’t hurt, as long as it is made clear that it is just an introduction and is by no means an advanced self-defense course.
I think that the station could do the series without generating unnecessary tension regarding public safety if they take care not to excessively allude to the relevant current events. The story would absolutely make people uneasy if it constantly attributed the reasons the viewer should keep watching to the possibility of them being next, but if it was presented as helpful information that people would benefit from knowing, without implying imminent threat, it doesn’t seem harmful to me. It is a relevant topic to daily life, but the potential harm is in how it could be presented, so I think it is the responsibility of the station to not fan the flames of public anxiety.