I started that topic on Reddit and others agreed. HLN absolutely manipulated the perspective at the end of the bridge to fit their preferred theme, and not the reality of the matter. They had the camera one foot above the planks on the far left side of the bridge, aiming slightly across to the right. That perspective and that perspective alone makes the area beyond the bridge look cluttered by trees and all but impassable. After using that angle the narrator said (paraphrased), "Trees have overrun the area beyond the bridge...meaning the trail ends and you have to turn around."
HLN producers knew darn well that if they used a normal view from a cameraman standing up at the end of the bridge, the gaps between trees would be blatantly obvious and especially the big open yard at left, beginning only about 50 yards beyond the bridge. This is the same type of disgusting tactic that Greeno often used early in the case, refusing to show normal angles in his videos while instead determined to jostle everything around and with extreme close ups to make everything seem as scary as possible.
Last year during "Down the Hill" podcast, HLN initially said the girls were trapped at the end of the bridge. Once evidence surfaced the other way they hastily and sloppily edited the finished product. But they still want to leave that impression. Hence the slanted portrayal. For whatever reason everyone seems to think it is a slap at Abby and Libby -- or diminish the hero aspect somewhat -- to matter of factly report that they could have run away into open yards within 10 seconds or less, but decided not to.
Unfortunately the false impression was ingrained early in the case that Libby was scared of Bridge Guy, and that's why she filmed him. Once that has entered the mindset it apparently seems contradictory to turn around and aim the camera at those nearby open yards, ones that were in plain sight in February 2017, as evidenced by Julie Melvin's video three weeks after the murders. When given a choice of protecting the false impression or correctly pointing out that the logical decision was not to dash away, HLN and virtually everyone else desperately clutch the false impression. And that false impression will never be dented until we see the full actual video...with Bridge Guy occupying perhaps 10% of the screen. An aside.
Ironically, it would actually be extremely valuable to film the entirety of the bridge crossing from one foot above the planks. I have emphasized that on many sites. It would remove the treacherous focus and demonstrate that there is plenty of room for a human being, on slightly uneven planks that are troubled and gapped at the outset then considerably more normal and tame near the end.
