The Bad News Bearers

As someone who would much rather hear and share good news (the non auto-insurance variety), it's hard for me to understand the mentality of those TV news guys and gals. Sure, bad news makes for a good story, but it's like they are so horribly addicted to bad news that they can't ever really get a fix that satisfies.
The ongoing Hurricane Katrina story makes for a good example. Did you notice how the more the hurricane's winds slowed down, the more they scrambled to find something else bad about the hurricane. A 175 mph hurricane makes for a great story, but slow those winds down and the reporters start to desperately throw in all the other problems. Water shortages were high on their list. I guess because almost everyone drinks water. And, then there was the toxic problems. I never did get into that story enough to really comment on it, but seems that even when the hurricane veered slightly east and its full fury avoided New Orleans, there was a glimmer of hope, that there could be some toxic spills that could kill everyone in town.
At least, that's what it seemed like the guys at FOX and CNN were thinking. I can't comment on what the MSNBC people are thinking, because they were doing a Legends biography on Spike Jones (I think) during the hurricane.
And something else I think is a little strange, is how they're able to capture footage of a sign just as it blows away, or a tree just as it snaps off. I wonder if maybe they're helping those signs and trees just a bit. I mean, with all the signs and trees that don't blow away, how do they always find the right one to videotape? It's just a thought. I may be totally offbase on this.
The field reporters hate it when the storm blows through. I guess because their air time is gone. They desperately hang on to a shred of hope that the hurricane will stall right by their camera truck. I saw one reporter standing on a street. Behind him was a blue sky. The sun was shining. He was saying, "But, the devastation may not be over. There is a chance that a wrap-around effect could bring high winds back into this area, along with torrential rains."
These guys are probably not as much bad news junkies as they are camera-time junkies. They would rather have a tree limb slap them upside the head than have to go inside out of camera range. It's as if they're begging the news director to keep coming back. They'll come up with anything, such as, "And, with all the attention on the hurricane, this would be the ideal time for terrorists to slip into the country here at the coast. I'll have more on that later, if you'll just give me a little more air time."
I imagine they're going through much the same thing a crack addict goes through when he realizes he's run out of his drug, and doesn't know when he'll get some more. Just as a cigarette smoker goes through all his drawers and looks under the furniture hoping to find a butt to suck on when he's run out of smokes, these reporters will look under any and every rock, hoping to find some glimmer of despair.
Even here in Richmond, the newscasters were trying to find some way to get into the picture. "Well (unfortunately) we're not going to get the remnants of Katrina, but hey (good news), you will feel the impact at the pumps. Now look at me while I tell you how much you're going to have to pay for gas."
These reporters can't stop mugging. The worse things get, the harder they work to suppress their giggles as they tell you how much worse things have gotten. Do they crave attention so much they have to be in the spotlight constantly? Would you like to know what their real problem is? Well, if you'll come back and read my blog tomorrow, I'll answer that question for you. So come back. Please. I promise I'll have some really good stuff.