With the Rayburn Office Building still locked down, and no sign of a shooter in sight, it’s very interesting to see how the local TV stations are handling the situation versus how the cable news stations are handling the situation.
At 1:22pm, NBC 4 is showing a touching flashback as part of Days of Our Lives. Fox 5 is showing a commercial during Judge Hackett. At 1:24, ABC 7 is showing a fight between two lovers, JR and a pretty blonde woman. Things aren’t going well for JR. At 1:24, CBS 9 is showing the Young and the Restless. DC 20 is, of course, showing Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
NBC, ABC and CBS all had bits on the shooting during their noon newscasts, but have largely left the matter in the capable hands of the Capitol Police. What are the cable news nets doing?
CNN’s got about half their entire staff working on the matter, repeating the same three minute loop or something. However, they did point us at Rep. Jack Kingston actually reporting on his own blog about the experience being in the Rayburn building, holed up during the crisis. Great to see the Congressman using his own blog, way to go! We hope your rattled staffer is okay again soon.
MSNBC has a metric assload of live local shots, likely from NBC 4, but are also repeating the same tired story, breaking no news whatsoever.
Fox News is also showing the same tired tape loop, working on a two hour old story, regurgitating the same tired line of “No one can confirm shots were fired, there’s a press conference at 1:30.”
Local TV? Back to business, nothing to see here, just another scare, back to the soap operas.
Network News? Freak Out! This is a great easy story that requires no real work from us. Woohoo!
From the Capitol Hill Police Press Briefing:
“I think there are 5 floors in Rayburn Building.” — Isn’t that something you should know as a public information officer for the Capitol Police?
“Everyone is being questioned” — Really? Why? Doesn’t that sound odd to you? Why question everyone on the fifth floor when the problems are on the top level of the garage?
The PIO for the Capitol Hill Police is very professional, and I’m glad she’s dealing with the idiots from the cable nets instead of me.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
