By Imran Malik | Media Industry & World Affairs Desk | MediaBites.com.pk | NJNewsline.com
NBC4 and Telemundo 52 journalist Eliana Moreno was killed along with pilot George Marciniw and a pedestrian when their news helicopter crashed in Los Angeles San Fernando Valley Tuesday night.
The journalism community is in mourning after a news helicopter crash in Los Angeles killed Eliana Moreno, a journalist working for NBC4 and Telemundo 52, along with pilot George Marciniw and a pedestrian on the ground.
The crash occurred Tuesday night in the San Fernando Valley area as Moreno and Marciniw were providing live coverage of a bus crash. Three lives were lost in a tragedy that struck at the heart of what it means to be a working journalist.
Who Was Eliana Moreno
Eliana Moreno was a Southern California native who built her career close to home. A graduate of Chapman University, she was a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and was engaged to be married.
She died doing the job she loved — in the air, live, delivering news to the community she served.
The NAHJ announced her death with deep sorrow, paying tribute to a journalist whose dedication took her into a helicopter above Los Angeles on a Tuesday night to cover a story so that viewers could understand what was happening in their city in real time.
The Press Freedom and Safety Dimension
Journalists die covering the news. That sentence should not be as familiar as it is.
War zones claim lives. Political violence claims lives. And sometimes, a news helicopter covering a routine bus crash in a major American city claims lives.
Eliana Moreno was not in a conflict zone. She was above San Fernando Valley. She was doing the most fundamental thing journalism asks of its practitioners — being there, gathering information, and reporting it live.
The NAHJ, which represents Hispanic journalists across the United States, mourned not only the loss of a member but the loss of a voice for communities that depend on journalists who look like them, speak their language, and understand their lives.
MediaBites Mourns Eliana Moreno
MediaBites.com.pk extends its deepest condolences to the family, friends, colleagues and fiancé of Eliana Moreno. To the family of pilot George Marciniw. And to the family of the pedestrian who lost their life on the ground.
Journalism loses good people too often. Eliana Moreno deserved a long career, a wedding, and decades more of the work she clearly loved.
Rest in peace Eliana. The lights you kept on mattered.
— Imran Malik | Media Industry and World Affairs Desk | MediaBites.com.pk | NJNewsline.com
Source: NAHJ, NBC4, Telemundo 52
