Civil rights activist Al Sharpton says he is worried about a backlash caused by the attention paid to violent demonstrations.
"If you only display that, in this whole 'if it bleeds, it leads' media obsession, then in many ways you are hurting George Floyd all over again," says Sharpton, an MSNBC host. "Because he becomes a side story to the tragedy of what happened and to the pursuit of justice."
What's happening in the cities needs to be covered, but not at the expense of losing Floyd, he said.
What has appeared live on CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC in the past few nights has been gripping and absorbing. In Washington, people stood holding cellphone cameras above their heads, capturing flames shooting in the air, the way they would at a concert in more peaceful times.
MSNBC's Garrett Haake walked through the streets, reporting live, and viewers could see what perhaps he couldn't: police officers waving at him to get away.
Suddenly, bang! And an expletive. Haake had been hit by a rubber bullet. He kept trying to talk but his crew had separated, and anchor Katy Tur told him to find a safe refuge.
Switch to CNN and reporter Shimon Prokupecz was in New York's Union Square, watching a roiling crowd in a tense standoff with police. He was almost trampled when people suddenly ran in his direction.
In Santa Monica, California, MSNBC's Gadi Schwartz was an outdoor mall, watching people stream out of a sporting goods store, carrying as much plundered merchandise as they could hold.
A police siren wailed nearby, and everyone scattered.
Networks have done strong work covering demonstrations and speaking to peaceful protesters during the day, but what comes later is hard to compete with, says Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Centre for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.
"The dominant pictures in 2020, as it was in 1968, are of fire and looting," said veteran journalist Dan Rather, who reported for CBS News during the rioting 52 years ago. "That skews the coverage, as it did in 1968. It gives the impression that the whole country is in collapse. But the whole country is not in collapse. The whole country is not in flames."
The challenge for journalists is to continue covering what prompted the demonstrations and the violence, he said.
"That gets lost in a newscast that goes from city to city, and scenes of looting or violence," Rather said. "That's part of the story. But the core of the story is why is this happening? What's this all about?"
CNN, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this week, wasn't around in 1968. Neither were Fox or MSNBC. Live coverage of rioting was rare. For one thing, television crews usually had to carry large, clunky cameras and race back to the office to have film processed.
Even during the 1994 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, the dominant image was somewhat removed: a helicopter shot of a driver being pulled from his truck and beaten. Portable, lightweight equipment now permits journalists to get in the middle of the action.
Rather was memorably manhandled while reporting at the raucous Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. That's mild compared to what happened this weekend. The US Press Freedom Tracker is investigating a stunning 78 reported cases of physical attacks on journalists over the past three days, in at least 25 different cities.
In many cases, journalists made it clear to authorities that they were members of the press, and were attacked anyway, said Kirstin McCudden, managing editor of the US Press Freedom Tracker.
It's one reason why Sally Buzbee, executive editor at The Associated Press, stressed safety to the company's news managers in an internal call on Monday morning.
