Good morning ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to another breath-taking edition of the Jonathan Clause. The editors, reporters and producers of this fine production are back from a one-week vacation. We apologize to our faithful readers, we hope to never let you down again.
After watching a recent broadcast of the WGN Afternoon News, I was tickled (not by a feather to the nostril or ear or by a finger to the ribs or feet) but by a story documenting the rising number of construction deaths on Illinois highways and tollways. Now before you go click on the "reply" button or give me a ring on my cell phone to tell me how uncaring and disgusting I am (because I'm not), please listen to the story itself. Reporters at times can be very amusing and empty-headed people (can't we all?) this is their story.
Around twenty-four road workers have lost their lives due to drivers who speed through construction zones this year. We've all been through them, the endless lines of orange barrels, using the shoulder as a makeshift lane, and concrete barriers that seem a little too close for comfort while driving at sixty miles per hour. On I - 90 (The Skyway) Chicago Police have put up at least three or four speed detection devices to let motorists know that they may be traveling too fast in a construction zone. You've seen them on residential streets and on highways, they have the speed limit sign bolted on a mobile radar device that flashes your speed on an enlarged LED screen.
The news reporter handling the story interviewed a road worker who said that the only way motorists would slow down was if a state trooper was around the construction area. Then the broadcast switches to a live shot of the reporter with camera crew right on the Skyway. Were they safely behind the concrete barrier, which I spoke of earlier while cars, SUVs and semi-trucks rumbled by? Of course not!! This guy is trying to put Peter Jennings or even better Dan Rather on permanent retirement leave! He decides that standing as close as he can to an open traffic lane, while getting a daring camera angle of the traffic speeding past these mobile radar devices will boost his career. No, actually it may help him (rather his family) speed up the process of a will and funeral arrangements.
Laws have been put in place that require motorists on highways to change lanes or slow down when approaching an accident scene, disabled vehicle or a traffic stop by the police. There have been accidents that detail what happens when these laws are not followed (police cruisers being demolished by drivers who don't heed these laws). With that being the case, why would a reporter put himself in a very dangerous position that may possibly endanger his life and the lives of his crew? Maybe his mother forgot to tell him to stay out of the street when he was a boy. It baffles and amuses me at the same time. You would think that people get the picture, but during Hurricane Isabel, it was much of the same behavior.
Due to my unemployed state, I was able to watch a great deal of Hurricane Isabel coverage in the comfort of our family compound. Updates of the storm seemed to take place every thirty seconds on every news channel (local and cable). The most compelling bit of coverage that I found came from The New York Times. They had a front-page satellite picture of the storm heading towards the Carolina coast. It was a massive picture (a pinwheel with a small hole in the center). At one point, the circumference of the storm was around 300 to 350 miles long, that's roughly the distance between Chicago and Cleveland. I was quite amazed. But local and cable news reporters felt that as the storm reached shore it needed to be covered no matter what the cost. Absolutely ridiculous. Reporters standing on the beach, flooded streets, and piers felt they were on their way to reporting stardom. Look out Katie Couric and Matt Lauer, Jimmy from WETT is the new star after his stellar hurricane coverage!
What propelled him to stardom? It wasn't standing in the storm surge created by Isabel, nor was it facing the pounding, horizontal rain. It was being blown forty feet down the street after miscalculating how fast Isabel's winds were blowing (This actually happened on the national evening news)!! Though his live update was cut off the air, he still reported the news of Isabel's destruction albeit his audience now consisted of flying roof tiles, downed power lines, and the occasional crab that fastened itself to Jimmy's arm. What a harrowing moment! What courage!! What fortitude!!! What stupidity!!!!
Don't get me wrong I totally understand that reporters are going to have to bring the tough and dangerous stories to the people, but I do believe that there are situations that require a little common sense in reporting also. That means don't go to the mouth of the active volcano, don't report from the great white shark tank without the safety of a steel cage, and PLEASE don't go to the bullfights expecting to get a post-ride interview with a bull that just maimed three riders!
The Jonathan Clause is getting its act together. There WILL be a special edition this week entitled, "Baseball Beantown Style In Cleveland". Have a great day, and mention us to your friends, family, co-workers, hair stylists, mechanics, clergy, babysitters, senators, state representatives, girlfriends, boyfriends, spouses, pets, automobiles, UPS men (and women), Tico and Pico Jaarrtz, the list is endless...oh and Jimmy and WETT were fictional (at least to my limited knowledge). If this is your first J.C., would you want back issues? Let me Know!
Jonathan
No comments:
Post a Comment