Amen!

I covered the fire (my "smokey clothes" are at the dry cleaners). We didn't know for sure until 12:30am that no one had been killed. In fact, there had been rumors circulating that two firefighters had died in the fire.

So, no one died. Does that make the story any less newsworthy? If yes...then, how many deaths does it take to make it newsworthy? One? Six? How about one jumping out a window equals six dead victims inside the building? One dead firefighter equals two dead civilians? Is that enough to make it newsworthy?

Of course, I'm be facetious here. The fact is, the local news media in Chicago did exactly what they are supposed to do...they reported breaking news. When people complained that reporters "kept saying the same thing over and over again", they were forgetting that not all viewers/listeners were tuned in for the entire duration of the fire. Viewers/listeners come and go...you have to keep the new consumers updated.

I may be biased in my assessment...but I think we did just fine Monday night.

Steve Scott
WLS-AM