BZ During the hostage situation.....

[SteveOrdinetz]

At 04:59 PM 12/1/2007, Dave in Boston wrote:
>I got to pull in BZ right after sunset in order to hear what I 
>thought would be the best coverage of the Clinton campain hostage situation.
>
>I was very dissappointed.
>
>At first I heard nothing for awhile (maybe 20 minutes)...then the 
>anchor (Diane Stern?) would give a "quick update"...and thats about it.
>
>Later on that evening I did hear Lanna Jones doing a live report 
>from the scene....but I thought 'BZ would be "all over this".  I 
>expected someone on the phone at the scene, telling us what was 
>going on, what the scene looked like, what they knew about the guy, 
>how many swat / bomb sqaud trucks are on the scene, etc, etc.


I thought WBZ handled this story well.  From what I could tell, there 
wasn't a lot of information being released...it's not like Mrs. 
Clinton was one of the hostages.  They seemed to cut in when there 
was actual news to report.
All too often there is a tendency to over-cover a story, taking up 
large amounts of air time without really telling us anything (storm 
coverage is a perfect example...how many times do we need to see some 
damfool reporter standing outside during a blizzard to tell us that 
it's snowing & driving is bad?).  A reporter "at the scene" may 
project the illusion of up-to-the-minute coverage, but not when 
they're just speculating or repeating meager facts and/or rumors.