Mediated Space

Introduction

Exterior of ABC7 news studios, State Street, Chicago

Just after ten o’clock on the cold winter’s evening of 23 December 2007, a car crashed through the windows of the ABC7 television news studios on North State Street in Chicago.¹ Newsreader Ravi Baichwal was on air, introducing his colleague Michelle Gallardo from the scene of a house fire. As Gallardo started her report, Baichwal was heard to scream as the glass behind him shattered. When Gallardo handed back to Baichwal, he was ready to divert from the script on his autocue and to introduce live pictures of the incident.² Like hundreds of TV channels around the world, ABC7 ...