Did something happen to a bridge in Minn??

bigred

Penultimate Amazing
bigred
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Yes terrible tragedy, but am I the only one who is sick as hell how CNN has beat this to death plus change? It collapsed, people died, it's terrible, WE GET IT already. Are they so desperate for news they have to has this 10,000 times from 100 diff angles?
 
Especially since it was "BREAKING NEWS" for about four days. Until the next tragedy came along (the Utah mine collapse). It's still covered in-depth by the local stations, but not with the sensationalism of the cable networks.
 
I was thinking what alfininer was thinking, but yes, I got just as sick of it. The silver lining is it was some sort of eye-opener for me that I have slipped into watching too much TV again.

What was bugging me most, a Minnesotan no less, was all of this, "Minnesotans are tough," Minnesotans bounce back," "Minnesotans etc. etc." If the media wants to hang around for the next several months, they'll see that Minnesotans also like to b**ch about traffic, construction, cut off and flip off other drivers, etc.

The reason it was in the news so much, like the skateboarder who fell 50 feet, was that they had video that was hard not to watch if you happened to already be in front of the idiot tube, mesmerized to the point of your brain being mush. Add that to the convenient report of 25%-or-so of bridges being "structurally deficient," whatever the heck that means to us laypeople, and you've got the ratings exacta: video and fear!
 
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Snide said:
What was bugging me most, a Minnesotan no less, was all of this, "Minnesotans are tough," Minnesotans bounce back," "Minnesotans etc. etc." If the media wants to hang around for the next several months, they'll see that Minnesotans also like to b**ch about traffic, construction, cut off and flip off other drivers, etc.
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I caught a little of that particular inanity too. Something about Minnesotans being famous for some or another useful character trait. I can't wait for the tragedy that leads to the locals somewhere being described in not-so-great terms: Iowans are crybaby wimps, Idahoans are knuckle-dragging goons, Indianans (or whatever they're called) are sneaky.
 
Thank God Greta got there to fly over it in a helicopter. With her on the scene, I know we're in good hand...


Oooooooooooh! Trapped miners! Gotta go, bye!
 
I am very upset that this has replaced the search for the killer of poor little Jon-Binet.

"CNN. The WORLD's MOST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS"

Hey, Larry. How about free Sylvia Browne readings for the families of those that "passed on" in this disaster?
 
"If it bleeds, it leads." This is the most invariable tenet of news reporting. The only thing that can displace it is something that bleed more. Right now the mine collapse in Utah is competing.

Wonder if Sylvia Browne will hazard a prediction this time?
 
Tricky said:
"If it bleeds, it leads."
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If it stinks, it winks (to the audience, come hither 'n watch.)

If it gasses (1920s era term of popular approval), it's for the masses.

If the glove doesn't fit, you must

Oh, wait, that was something else.


Uhhh, if the teenage boys spy on strippers on a golf outing from the bushes, you'll get promoted to NBC national news.
 
Not to mention that every time a disasters or death is referred to, images or preferably film clips from it is shown. 9/11 is the most striking example (if it's even remotely related to the attack, show plane hit and burning towers), but when you think of it, they do it all the time. With deaths, with accidents, with bridges collapsing. To say this is unnecessary and counter-productive to traumatized and grieving victims is an understatement. I could go on and on - we all could.

The news media could hardly care less about people and needs to be reeled in. End of story.
 
I'd complain, but it brought that dreamy Anderson Cooper to town.


Eventually I found myself taking note of what the different reporters were wearing. What fashions are in for bridge collapses? My favorite, aside from Anderson's, was Brian Williams who looked like he had slept in his wrinkled shirt.
 
I'm absolutely annoyed. The time devoted to the Minnesota Bridge Collapse is taking time away from important stories like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Anna Nicole Smith!
 
Tricky said:
"If it bleeds, it leads." This is the most invariable tenet of news reporting.
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Agreed. I remember from somewhere reading that local news in many places would often lead with a "Fuzz and Wuz" story, which meant a local murder, where you would interview the cops (Fuzz) and have pictures of the now deceased (Wuz).

Another reason I haven't watched local news in the past 20 years...
 
I've wondered before how so many ordinary people in the past could have gone to see clowns at the circus and been actually genuinely amused and entertained by them and not found them creepy and evil. Then however the tv can be turned on and now they're in suits everywhere and creepier then ever being death carnies and most people still don't find them disturbing, people like O'reilly and average smiley newsperson clones. Just say no to evil clowns.

Is it just my imagination or compared to other nations' news media do American news people talk to the public like school children being read a story? I don't hear that patronising goofily excited voice tone and phrasing in the BBC for example or in any American accents.
 
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The thing that got me about CNN's (over)coverage was the fact that the only missing people they talked about were a pregnant woman and a two year old girl. Why couldn't they just say eight people are still missing? They talked about the woman and the girl every hour on the hour.
I guess the other six people don't count.

Kore.
 
The most noteworthy local story today was about the engaged couple who were on their way to the hospital to visit the woman's daughter when the bridge fell from under them. They told sympathetic reporters the girl had fallen down some stairs.

Turns out the guy was just arrested for putting the daughter in the hospital. The poor kid is on life support with shaken baby brain damage, abrasions and bite marks.


On a slightly related note, I once wrote a short story about the four horsemen of the apocalypse taking a jobs as a news reporters.
 
bigred said:
Yes terrible tragedy, but am I the only one who is sick as hell how CNN has beat this to death plus change? It collapsed, people died, it's terrible, WE GET IT already. Are they so desperate for news they have to has this 10,000 times from 100 diff angles?
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I was absolutely spellbound by the coverage as I couldn't get enough of this mystery. Nobody has been able to explain how it jsut SUDDENLY collapsed. And how not just one section collapsed, but how the entire thing came down even though it was in separate supported segments. VERY intriguing.

Now I am forced to listen to yet another mine mishap that happen everywhere around the world, and are sort of old hat. Yawn. Don't mean to be disrespectful of the miners though, and I don't even want to argue with you guys about that! Not at all. Just that this is nothing unusual.
 
EvilSmurf said:
I'm absolutely annoyed. The time devoted to the Minnesota Bridge Collapse is taking time away from important stories like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Anna Nicole Smith!
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Well, Lindsay Lohan anyway... because she is hot. A cutie. Paris is a ditz. Nicole was a Marilyn wannabe fake-boob bimbo. I wonder what the judge would do if Lindsay were to disrobe in front of him in court and ask him how he can send 'these' to prison. I once saw a naked girl on a cop show take off her top and ask the cop now that he saw her boobies, how he could haul her off to jail. See that episode? LOL. Seriously.
 
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parrotslave said:
The most noteworthy local story today was about the engaged couple who were on their way to the hospital to visit the woman's daughter when the bridge fell from under them. They told sympathetic reporters the girl had fallen down some stairs.

Turns out the guy was just arrested for putting the daughter in the hospital. The poor kid is on life support with shaken baby brain damage, abrasions and bite marks.


On a slightly related note, I once wrote a short story about the four horsemen of the apocalypse taking a jobs as a news reporters.
Click to expand...

If you don't believe in people or families being jinxed, here is the place to start.
 
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