Where is the news media when you want them?
Yesterday afternoon, while driving to the mall with my niece, I was traveling south on the 101 freeway when I noticed the traffic in front of me coming to a sudden stop. Unusual since this was a Saturday, so it was fair to assume there was an accident ahead. I was about to change lanes to exit the freeway, expressing my usual utter disdain for those who insist on gawking at an accident and clogging up traffic when my niece exclaimed, "Holy crap!"
At this I was unable to resist sneaking a little peek myself. When I looked to my left, I could see no less than ten police cars lined up perfectly, blocking the northbound lanes of the freeway. Several of the police officers had their guns drawn and pointed directly at an individual standing about 20 feet ahead of them. He had his hands laced behind his head and was slowly getting down on his knees right there on the freeway. A little further south, two more police cars were blocking the northbound traffic, directing them to exit before approaching what was obviously a volatile situation.
As we continued our travel to the mall, trying to imagine what could have happened, we exited on to the US60. Traveling westbound on the 60, we came upon another spot of heavy traffic. This time, a serious accident on the eastbound lanes of the freeway had traffic backed up for several miles. I decided that there must have been a high-speed chase, and that the culprit had caused the accident on the eastbound 60 before traveling on to the northbound 101 where he was finally apprehended. "Of course, that must have been it," I concluded.
I called my husband to see if he had heard anything on the local news. Nothing. We went about our shopping, continuing to guess what could have caused all the excitement.
We returned home, grateful to find all the traffic had returned to normal while we shopped. I again asked my husband if he had heard anything. Still, no news. We checked the local newspaper's website--nothing. Later that evening, I watched the local news. They did a 10 second blurb on the serious accident on the eastbound US60. Not a word about the police action on the 101.
This morning, I checked the internet again. Still, nothing. And nothing in the newspaper.
So I gotta ask--where the hell was the local news yesterday? Any time you have THAT many police cars blocking lanes on the freeway with guns drawn as they apprehend their suspect, you'd think it would make the news. Local media sure doesn't miss a beat when Britney Spears is found shopping at Scottsdale Fashion Square, but they are nowhere to be found when something of this nature goes on.
I guess if it was Justin Timberlake kneeling on that freeway, they'd have been all over it.
If you had just pulled over and asked, we'd all know what happened. You have to take matters in your own hands these days.
Acutally what I hate is they always shut these damn freeways down. Someone dies and the freeway is closed? Why? I just don't get it.
Posted by: James at February 8, 2004 04:18 PMIf you notice, the newspapers pre-write most of their news for the weekends now including much of Monday's paper. That's why you didn't read anything about the Janet Breast thing until Tuesday.
And the bigger the story is on the T.V. news, the smaller the article will be in the paper. If you saw a 10 second blurb on the news, expect a one-liner in the paper.
Local T.V. news just sucks so I don't even bother.