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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (62351)	10/11/2002 3:31:23 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

<iI know you are in the general area where the sniper in the news is hunting. Today I got to watch the roadblocks and the rousting of drivers of white vans up close and personal. The highways were at a dead stop and traffic was as bad as a serious snowstorm. To make matters worse, there were roadblocks between me and my sashimi fix. All the local news had their cameras aimed at a section of I95, where there was no movement save the flashing of lights. None of the stations gave even a rudimentary traffic report although I understand now that traffic was stopped for miles and miles. But I made it to lunch anyway. We took the back streets, which the white van probably did, too, since they didn't catch it despite all the roadblocks. Sigh. How do you feel about all the media attention devoted to the crime? Once again I walked up the steps from the pool to find everyone in the lobby glued to the TV. Halfway up the steps it was clear there had been another shooting. Whatever we might think of the coverage, people are transfixed by it. There have been a couple of flaps about media reporting leaked information that the cops didn't want released. That tarot card was the biggest issue. Howard Kurtz has been talking about the issue in the Post. Other media outlets have been blabbing about how they would never say anything to compromise the work of the police. Those are the ones that didn't break the news about the tarot card. I guess it's a encouraging that there is some dialog about how the media should handle such things. I turned the TV on for a while when I got back from lunch but it was repetitive so I turned it back off. Just checked and the soaps are on all the local channels again. All must be right with the world. Personally, I'm finding it frustrating to have constant coverage with no information. If there's information, then by all means have blanket coverage. But they're not telling us anything useful. Too strong a statement, Karen. There's information that all school sporting events are cancelled and that the schools are in lockdown and that afternoon kindergarten is cancelled. So that's useful to some people. There's little information people can use to protect themselves, though. So shaddup about it, already, IMO. But the folks at the pool were watching so I guess most people want to see it. As for the sniper, he's clearly nuts. It's probably impossible to predict how crazy people will react to news coverage or whether it matters how it's reported. They can't not report it at all, only differently or less. The discussion I've heard has been about whether it's wise to taunt the sniper in hopes he'll get mad and make a mistake or to be respectful of him in hopes of settling him down. I sure don't have a clue.