Plane crashes, local news stations bomb
There was an accident involving a plane crashing through a wall at Midway Airport at around 7:15 p.m. Flipping through the local channels, I see that only ABC-7 and WGN-9 have broken into regularly scheduled programming to deliver the news. (It's possible I missed it on the other channels, but I highly doubt CBS-2 interrupted Survivor or NBC-5 cut into Will and Grace.)
UPDATE 1: At 7:42 p.m., the Chicago Tribune has reported that police talking over squad radios said the airplane was a 737 and that it apparently slid onto a nearby road. On channels 7 and 9, they're saying that Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 was on Central Avenue and that at least 10 ambulances were on the scene, but there was no fire.
UPDATE 2: At 7:53 p.m., Channel 5 finally breaks in.
UPDATE 3: At a little after 8 p.m., Channel 2 is still showing regular programming. Channels 5, 7, and 9 have eyewitnesses on the phone. Oh, and so does FOX-32, finally.
UPDATE 4: Fox, the last one on, is the first with video from the scene at 8:05 p.m. It's still snowing hard, and there's a 737 in the middle of the road.
UPDATE 5: Talking to one of the 98 passengers on the flight at around 8:08 p.m., a Channel 5 anchor asks, "Where were you sitting on the plane? In first class? Coach?" The woman responds with a lot less sarcasm than I would've managed: "It's a Southwest flight, so everyone's mixed together." The Sun-Times still has nothing on its website.
UPDATE 6: Yeah, yeah, I know no one's getting updates on news as it's happening from this site. That's why I'm only bringing you news about the news media. My point in these "updates" is to show just how slow other forms of media are. Blogs are the way to go! Also, with budget cuts limiting the number of reporters a news organization has at its disposal, maybe it's important to pay attention to which newspaper and TV station can keep up with developing news without relying on AP.
posted by teacherman @ 7:38 PM
6 Comments:
YO AP! We heard about the plane crash/slide/traffic violation up here in Minneapolis before channel 5 broke in with coverage! We just watched it on the evening news, crazy snow? Do you think that will hurt Southwest reputation for Winter flights?
peace.
matt sanders (Jenna's cousin, she sent me your blog address)
matthewsfeet@hotmail.com
Hey Matt!
Thanks for writing!
I don't know if the accident will hurt Southwest's rep. But maybe Midway's--the airport has some of the shortest runways in the country. And it's literally surrounded by neighborhoods. The plane went through a wall and landed in the street. If it had kept going a little further it would be in someone's front yard. I have no idea how the people can stand living that close to an airport with planes almost touching their rooftops.
An interesting sidenote is that the last time Midway had a major accident was on this exact date some time in the 70s. A plane actually crashed into someone's yard. Another time a few years back, a plane's engine fell into the street. But I guess people never learn, they still live there, so maybe Midway's reputation won't be hurt after all. As for Southwest, as long as they keep their fares down, I'll keep flying them.
AP
just an fyi, if you had cable you would have had the info much sooner. Flipping through I saw that Fox news had broke into a discussion with Ms. Huffington regarding the failed Bush policies in Iraq (well, they were actually doing what Fox does, not letting her make her point and twisting her words) to show footage of the plane sitting in the middle of the street. Actually they split screened it but it was on sooner then the locals.
why are they all wondering why the plane slid...? why are they even asking if it was human/pilot error? how they hell is he supposed to know how icy the ground is or isn't from the air?
perhaps the airport should have been closed ... but stil, the pilot should have been aware of conditions, and maybe could have done a better job
You know, it's really a shame the way every network is afraid that the other network will catch a story, even a bad weather story, before the other networks. When that plane rolled off of Midway, channel 5 had NOTHING to say, but they were there first, without pic's, saying, "Uhh, let's see if we can find somebody who can say something about what happened."
They didn't even HAVE a person selected yet!!
(PS. I said this during your weather missive, and I'll say it again - why should I be any different than our local news?? Just because I have nothing new to actually type doesn't make it any less meaningful.)
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