NBC reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw are dead after their news helicopter crashed last week while covering a bus crash in Chatsworth — and the Los Angeles Rams made sure they weren't forgotten before Monday Night Football.
The Rams placed two framed photos with white flowers in the press box before hosting the Giants, alongside a sign reading "Forever part of the Los Angeles media family," the New York Post reported. Moreno and Marciniw were covering a deadly bus crash when their NewsChopper 4 went down. A pedestrian on the ground was also killed.
Moreno, who went by "Eli in the Heli" on Instagram, had wanted to be a reporter since age 11 and had worked for Angel City Air Inc., the company operating the helicopter, since September 2010. Marciniw, a Burbank High graduate and Burbank resident, had over 30 years of flight experience and more than 14,000 logged flight hours — and was nearing retirement when the crash took his life.
Two people doing a job, chasing a story, and a bystander who happened to be in the wrong place. That's the real cost. The Rams' gesture was a small, decent thing — a franchise acknowledging that the people who cover the game are human beings with families and futures that got cut short.
Then there's how the rest of the press ecosystem handled it. AM New York didn't mention the crash at all. Instead, the outlet used the Rams-Giants matchup as a vehicle to push a BetMGM promo code — "AMNY1500" — offering up to $1,500 in bonus bets. The entire piece was a gambling ad dressed up as sports coverage, complete with step-by-step instructions on how to deposit money and activate the offer. A reporter and pilot are dead. AM New York's response was to help a sportsbook acquire customers.
CBS Sports, for its part, stuck to the X's and O's — Aaron Donald's expected return for roughly 30 snaps, the Rams' ugly 27-7 Week 1 loss to the 49ers in Australia, and the Giants' dominant opening performance under John Harbaugh against Dallas. Standard game preview. No mention of the press box tribute.
The Post covered the memorial. CBS covered the game. AM New York covered the house's cut.
Moreno and Marciniw died doing the work that keeps people informed. Whether the institution they served deserves the trust that kind of sacrifice implies is a separate question. But they earned the recognition — and a press box that remembers them is worth more than a promo code that doesn't.








