Flashing Lights and News

We’re an unusual group, news people. Just like some lawyers, we love to chase ambulances (and police cars and fire trucks… anything with flashing lights). Today for instance. When I showed up at the station, there was a list of fairly routine stories planned for our newscasts. Then grassfires started breaking out. And a bank was robbed. And a local religious group sent their attorney to talk with us. This all happened between 3:30 and our newscasts. It is stimulating to have your newscast planned, and then have it all go up in smoke and flashing lights.
We really don’t like bad things to happen. And I think if you look at KTAB newscasts for a week or a month, you’ll find mostly good positive stories about children and pets and schools and sports and weather. A majority of our stories are “good news”, even though people complain that we never do “good news.” But then there are days with fires and accidents and ice and high school football.
Again, we don’t want people hurt or property damaged. But our job is to report news… which is something that is out of the ordinary and that people are talking about. I could go on about KTAB news philosophy, but I just heard a fire truck go by.