California shooting: US media goes live from suspects' home; criticised

A bizarre spectacle played out at the home of the suspects behind the California carnage when the rental apartment was thrown open to US media which beamed live visuals of intimate details of the family's daily life, drawing sharp criticism from their audience and netizens.

Baby toys, shredded files, computer paraphernalia were shown "live" by a battery of television crews and reporters who jostled inside the small two-storey apartment of the alleged shooters -- Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, 27.

Hours after popular American news channels like CNN and MSNBC went "live" from inside the apartment rooms, The Wall Street Journal wrote that the channels "acted irresponsibly."

"Many viewers and media analysts were surprised at the scene, with critics saying news media may have compromised a crime scene and acted irresponsibly by releasing sensitive, personally identifiable information about those who lived there," The Wall Street Journal wrote.

According to one estimate, about 100 journalists entered the apartment Friday morning.

"They've turned a crime scene in a terrorist mass murder into a garage sale," CNN legal analyst Paul Callan told host Wolf Blitzer as the news channel aired the footages, showing laundry baskets, documents, toys and other personal effects.

"Media outlets drew criticism on social media as news crews on Friday swarmed into the rented townhouse of the San Bernardino shooting suspects, broadcasting live as they rummaged through baby gear, IDs and photographs of family members," Wall Street Journal said.

FBI, which is investigating the San Bernardino shooting that killed 14 people, said it had nothing to do with this.

The apartment was a highly-sensitive crime scene until a day ago, but was controversially thrown open to media by its landlord on Friday. The landlord said he opened the doors to the media after authorities released it back to him.

Netizens reacted sharply after the networks showed items such as a baby's crib, mat, walker and a picture of a child.

"MSNBC digging through personal items, including the child," tweeted Amanda Wills, deputy executive editor of media site Mashable. "This is CRAZY."

"Ethics went out the window when media mobbed the San Bernardino shooters' apartment," Mashable said adding that media circus crossed an ethical line.

"It's the worst image of media as mob," says Judy Muller, a media ethics professor at the University of Southern California and former television correspondent.

"It reinforces everybody's prejudices about reporters. It's ghoulish," he added.

MSNBC in a statement regretted its decision: "Although MSNBC was not the first crew to enter the home, we did have the first live shots from inside. We regret that we briefly showed images of photographs and identification cards that should not have been aired without review."

CNN said it "made a conscious editorial decision not to show close-up footage of any material that could be considered sensitive or identifiable."