EDITORIAL NEWS MADE EASY.TV stations substitute chases for real reportingLOCAL television stations have wasted no time thumbing their noses at Mayor James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California , Police Chief William William, crown prince of Germany William or Frederick William, 1882–1951, crown prince of Germany, son of William II. In World War I he commanded (1914) an army on the Western Front and was nominal commander in the German attack Bratton Bratton is a village and civil parish, near Westbury, in the English county of Wiltshire. It formed part of the ancient parish of Westbury until 1892. The Westbury White Horse and the massive earthworks of Bratton Castle (or Camp) Iron Age hill fort are both in Bratton and common sense. Less than a week after the two city officials begged broadcasters to stop airing police chases, the stations documented every moment of Monday's pursuit of a shoplifter from downtown to North Hollywood Hollywood. 1 Community within the city of Los Angeles, S Calif., on the slopes of the Santa Monica Mts.; inc. 1903, consolidated with Los Angeles 1910. . KABC-TV President Arnold Kleiner explains: ``In his news conference last week, Mayor Hahn himself described chases as 'life-and-death situations' which threaten public safety. A story that fits that description is generally worthy of live coverage. Today's chase definitely fits that description.'' Oh, please. A large part of why car chases threaten public safety is because they're seen by criminal lowlifes as an easy way to get on TV. If the TV stations were really concerned about the public, they would stop broadcasting the chases altogether, short of such truly noteworthy chases as O.J. Simpson's slow-speed flight from justice. Besides, if TV wanted life-and-death situations, there's no shortage of places it could look, starting with the gang wars that devastate dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. our city. But that would require serious reporting, not just chasing helicopters after every miscreant mis·cre·ant n. 1. An evildoer; a villain. 2. An infidel; a heretic. [Middle English miscreaunt, heretic, from Old French mescreant, present participle of in a car. In short, it would require some responsibility, and the local TV stations seem to have little interest in that. TV's response sadly sets the stage for a tragedy that inflames the whole issue since common sense hasn't prevailed. |
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