During some vigorous channel-flipping late yesterday afternoon, I heard a local TV news person wind up his report on an alleged Spokane crime by saying, “The house has been a problem in the past.”

Well, it might have been nice to get the house's side of it. I can just imagine.

“Look, I have done nothing wrong. I'm a house. But the guy who owns me insists on renting to one deadbeat dumbass after another. And you should see the parade of winners they have over. There's your problem. My hands are clean.”

Which faked emotion bugs you the most?

“I was first on the scene here at the refrigerator to tap these leftovers.”

“Tonight, in an exclusive report, I will tell you how I know that your stepmother is insane.”

“We have breaking news. The toilet is stopped up.”

“This is your teenage son, reporting to you live from the basement.”

“Though the action all took place many hours ago, I'm standing here in the yard to tell you about Fluffy's tangle with the squirrel.”

“Mom and Dad, authorities now say my report card first took a turn for the worse when I realized girls just want to have fun.” 

www.manolaw.blogspot.com

TV news operations relied on vehicles such as this. (A friend at KXLY shared this photo from 1963.)

Re: Student pilot killed in chopper crash near Felts Field/Rob Kauder, KXLY

I used to get really angry when I would report on a tragic story, see a body on the side of the road, talk to and try to comfort family members… only to come back to the station and hear people making insensitive comments about what I had just seen and felt in the field. We don’t have that in our newsroom now, thank God. But we do have people who are passionate about their jobs and can’t help but feel proud when we do things well and do things right. In these situations, no matter how busy they are, we still take the time to make sure we’re being as sensitive as we can, yet still fulfilling our obligation to keep the community informed. My boss and I were reviewing video and pictures as they came in (before they hit air) so we could decide if they were appropriate or not/Melissa Luck, KXLY. More here.

Question: By and large, do the media handle tragedies properly, like the helicopter crash that killed a student pilot at Felt Field Wednesday?