Southern California is burning down / Local TV broadcasts sports

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

I am fairly disgusted that so much of the Southland is on fire and all our local stations are NOT covering it. Contrast this with the Laguna fires 10 years ago, they interrupted all local tv and broadcast the fires all night. This fire DWARFS that fire and many communities have been evacuated.


I wonder if television stations feel ANY DUTY whatsoever to inform the public anymore?

[La_Serpiente]

1. Screw Localism

The FCC is running some kind of PR campaign going around the nation promoting their new rules. Bull Shit.

That's what these new rules do. They make it cheaper to report the news at the expense of the viewer's perception of the world.

[Zorra]

2. Television

is the heroin of the masses.

[Terwilliger]

3. you kidding?

the fires aren't marketable yet

besides, all the cameras are focused on Lockyer's boy AHH-nold in Sacramento

[patdem]

4. Shouldn't the governer be doing something???

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. Governor DAVIS IS doing something

He has declared a state of emergency and has been out to the sites already.

By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - At least 220 homes were destroyed and four people reported killed by a series of massive wildfires that continued to scorch southern California on Sunday, and officials said there was no immediate end in sight as new fires popped up.

Fanned by the hot, dry Santa Ana winds and minimal humidity, major fires were raging in at least four places, having already burned more than 100,000 acres, threatened more than 30,000 homes across the region and caused millions of dollars of damage.

California Gov. Gray Davis declared a state of emergency in Ventura and San Bernardino counties, north and east of Los Angeles , respectively, and asked President Bush to declare a "major disaster" for both areas.

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=793987&tw=wn_wire_story

[maveric]

6. San Diego is burning now! Kearny Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Tierasanta...

Ramona
I woke up this morning to a sky of pinkish orange with the sun trying to poke its way through. All the cars on my street are covered in ash and the air smells strongly of smoke. And I'm in La Mesa, some 10 miles away from the fire.
People have burned to death in a car in Ramona and dozens of homes have been engulfed. This is the worst I've ever seen in SD co.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. Yeah Laz and Haele called me at 6:30

They are in Lakeside and the fire came within 3 blocks of them. Animals had to be evacuated from the hills nearby and are out around the lake now.

But is it NOT disgusting that the TV stations are going with their usual fare rather than keeping us all informed?

Heard about the couple that burned in the car.

apparently BARONA casino made the call NOT to evacuate and locked people IN. I think they made the correct choice since they have a huge firewall around the place...think of how many would have been trapped in the canyon out near Ramona had they NOT done that.

[Trajan]

12. I left Chino Valley and Rancho Cucamonga on Friday ....

... and wentdown to San Diego for the weekend ....

Damn .... From the frying pan into the fire ...

The SD Locals TV stations are covering the fires NONSTOP .... I have NO idea why anyone would say otherwise ...

They pre-empted Meet The Press to cover the fire .....

They pre-empted NFL games to cover the fire .....

Those are some mighty big pre-emptions ....

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

14. That's amazing..LA stations are all business as usual

that is good to know though.

[Armstead]

7. I know the feeling

A couple of years ago we were under a tornado watch here for several hours. I turned on the radio to keep in touch, but it was the weekend and they were all on "auto-pilot" playing sattelite music and baseball games.

[blm]

8. Maybe someone could do a lowspeed carchase thru the firezones?

That is really despicable behavior for the media. They only care about squeezing that dime and pursuing their goal of dumbing the people down enough that their very lives are endangered.

[maggrwaggr]

25. Funny!

nt

[barbaraann]

10. The fires will be Arnold's excuse for his destruction of CA.

They will be his "9-11" excuse for the havoc he and his BFEE buddies plan to wreak on that state.

[blm]

23. WHOA!!! You just could be right, barbaraann.

I notice you usually sense things pretty strongly.

[Neecy]

11. disgusting

I remember the Oakland hills fire and the nonstop coverage of it on our local news.

There's an essential public safety function in knowing what direction the fire is taking and what areas are being evacuated, but apparently now that isn't the mandate that rules OUR airwaves. It's all in the advertising bucks. What's happening down there right now is a total disgrace.

[_NorCal_D_]

13. The same thing is happening up North.

Last night the local news channel was covering friggin High School football games as SoCal was up in flames... :(

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

15. Just got off the phone with David Zephyr

His home is in Clairemont and is most likely gone. They were evacuated late last night after watching their neighbor's home go up...nearly 100 homes burned in Clairemont and he was in the higher elevation.

They were STARVING for info and could find nothing local until the fire dept showed up on their block.

I really believe the LA media has failed it's audience on this.

[Tatiana]

16. OMG

Wow, send David my prayers. This is awful. And what's ironic is that the man who they recalled as their governor is out there trying to do something while the Pretender is nowhere to be found.

Shameful.

All of our friends in Cal and SoCal... please stay safe!

[Terwilliger]

17. oh no!!!

damn...damn!

What is being done?

[maveric]

18. Clairemont in LA, or the San Diego neighborhood?

The Clairemont neighborhood is close to Kearny Mesa, and Tierrasanta where the fire is raging.
OMG I hope that DZ is ok and that his home will be saved.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. Clairemont, LA

Like I said, his neighbor's house was already going down when they evacuated...he is 99.9% certain his home is gone as nearly 100 homes burned....they only got a few things out.

[noiretextatique]

26. Claremont...wow! Tell DZ he's in my thoughts

and prayers if you speak with him again. i think Claremont, LA is spelled without the "i."

[Scairp]

29. Other way around

Claremont, CA is near L.A. and Clairmont, CA is closer to San Diego. I don't understand why we have two towns with the same name in one state. It's very confusing. Anyway, my house is full of smoke and some houses are burning no more than five miles from me, but the local stations can't possibly NOT show fucking skating or NASCAR or Heaven forbid, FOOTBALL, so that we can stay informed. Jerk offs.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

30. Yes David Zephyr said there was NO coverage beyond the 11 PM

news until the fire dept showed up (and yes, I spelled it wrong..my bad)

Apparently local San Diego coverage is much better.

[Crewleader]

49. NSMA please let David Zephyr I'm praying for him

and all others that are in the area...anyone hear from Piperay?
And you becareful too....:hug:

[Quahog]

61. This is correct

I've lived in both areas. Claremont is well east of Los Angeles, and parts of that community border on open scrub land around Mt. Baldy. These are the areas (built up to the edges of canyons) that are most vulnerable during wildfire season.

Clairemont in San Diego County is actually Clairemont Mesa, which is surrounded pretty much by other suburuban communities, without much open canyonland (although there is some at the far eastern end, in the area where the massive Tierrasanta community has been growing seemingly forever).

[juajen]

34. That's horrible!

Please, please tell him how saddened we are, and to get on the DU horn if he needs anything.

[Nottingham]

28. I've been watching this and the situation is getting out of hand!

and this has been going on over 24 hours and is getting worse

:bounce:

[qanda]

48. What can I do to help?

Please let me know and tell him he's in my thoughts and prayers. I don't know him, but I really do feel for him and all of those in the path of terrible fire.

[sandnsea]

20. I am so incredibly sorry

I lost my home in a fire, it is so tragic. To anybody who might be in this predicament, it's the momentos you need to take. Your family has copies of your pictures, but they don't have the things your kids made at 5 years old, the trophies and ribbons they won, the special gifts you've been given. That's what you need to grab.

There also aren't enough firefighters on these fires. If you are in the area and safe, call and complain, now. There should be 2,000 to 2,500 on a 100,000 acre fire. I know there's firefighters ready to go, my kid is sitting here watching football in Oregon for chrissake. And call your local stations and complain about the coverage, no matter where you live. It's disgusting, totally disgusting.

[VeniceBeat]

21. Sardonic Take on a Terrible Tragedy

At this point, I just can't believe any news report from any source. Only days after President Bush pleaded with the press to accentuate the positive, the media is up to its old tricks again. At this very moment they're reporting on some fire or other on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Now, as I understand it, California is about the size of Iraq. Surely, there are vast areas of the state that aren't burning. This is where the TV cameras should be trained. The public would much rather see houses that are intact, and people who aren't dispossessed. The media should follow President Bush's request, and learn to look at the bright side of things.
TownDrunk | 10.26.03 - 1:32 pm | #

http://www.atrios.blogspot.com/">atrios

No ash yet in Venice today, which is the only indication that there ARE any fires.

:wtf:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

22. Actually there are many fires in So Cal right now

People may wish to look at the fact that marines and nat'l guard often supplement fire control activity but they are not available sadly.

[VeniceBeat]

24. Bizarre and Sad Day

We can smell the smoke in Venice.

It remains to be seen whether the spread of these fires is due to lack of manpower. If so-- thanks again, Bx!

Hope you and yours are OK, shocks!

[Scairp]

31. Federal help is coming

I understand that our area is getting firefighters from other states, more specifically Montana, to take up the slack as the state is tapped out as far as manpower to fight the fires.

[revree]

27. ALL LOCAL SAN DIEGO STATIONS COVERING FIRE

No sports today. Then again, our entire county is on fire so what else can they cover?

[SoCalDem]

32. CHANNEL 11 in LA is live on the fires

:(..it's the only one

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

33. Only in the last hour has their coverage started in LA

[cally]

35. I'm so sorry all you So. Cali's are facing this

crisis. Many :hug: to David Zephyr and family. If there is any way I can help, please let me know.

We have no coverage in the SF Bay Area--none. I've been trying to figure out what is going on and nothing. The media are abysmal and are failing us.

[revree]

36. Fire experts saying the San Diego fires are like nothing they've ever seen

Massive, fast moving beyond belief, and we have so much open space in our eastern areas, plus those godawful Eucaliptus trees...

I have been in many major fires, Harmony Grove, Malibu...nothing like this ever before.

[salin]

38. No coverage?

I remember huge coverage of So Cal fires (did the fires go towards Topanga Canyon that time) when I was living in the Bay Area sometime in the mid nineties. Shows the pervasive nature of consolidation over time - suddenly when compared to a similar (actually the earlier one was lesser compared to today) event the coverage is starkly distinct. Nonexistent. Very troubling.

[cally]

40. Well, I meant right now

It's too early for the local news broadcasts. They may cover it.

[salin]

43. please watch the local news

and report back in.

The coverage was huge not so many years ago (friend told me I was probably remembering the Malibu fires - but I don't recall the year).

It could be significant if the coverage is quite a bit less - esp when the fires are so much more.

I posted below - I think this could be an ugly symptom of media consolidation - where more and more decisions are made outside of the region being served - so coverage misses very important things. Many Californians have family across the state - and should be apprised of the fires and the magnitude of the problem.

Please watch the local news tonight - and report back in.

[SoCalDem]

44. ****This is important.. News videos of fire reports*****

www.newslink.org


click this link.. then choose california.. Most tv stations listed in the Los Angeles / SanDiego area have video links available.. These have maps and helicopter footage.. and numbers to call for information about loved ones..

http://newslink.org/stattele.html

TV by state
ABC | CBS | Fox
NBC | UPN | WB

[cally]

45. Lead story on NBC and independent affiliate

Not on ABC yet. CBS airs later.

BTW...flights into SF from NY are cancelled due to the fires.

On edit: I switched to ABC last so I may have missed it. If I did, it was a short story.

On edit: CBS affiliate has it as the lead story and has extensive coverage

[salmonhorse]

39. More than 350 homes burn as wildfires ravage Southern California

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/10/26/national1328EST0498.DTL

(10-26) 12:49 PDT SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) --

Entire towns were evacuated Sunday as wind-driven firestorms destroyed scores of homes, devastating neighborhoods scattered from San Diego County to the mountains east of Los Angeles.

[LWolf]

37. No coverage is right.

It's been burning since Tuesday, and I didn't know there were fires until last night. I'm on the other side of the mountains. I went to a party at a friends last night, out around where the 138 meets the 15; there were tankers flying back and forth overhead all night, and they told me about them. Depending on wind direction, they get a lot of the smoke and ash. Nothing last night; the wind was blowing the other way.

Today my son called me from Riverside to ask me to find out if the 15 would be open for him to get home; he wasn't finding any highway closures on the local news, but he knew the fire was close. The way home is closed. He's stranded in Riverside, or he can take a 4 hour detour. Except that massive crowds are taking the same detour, so it won't happen in 4 hours.

[JasonBerry]

41. I used to live in San Diego

I lived just off of I-15 and Scripps Ranch and many of these fires have encircled this area. Scary. I well remember San Diego TV covering fires much better than LA. Don't know why, but that's how I remember it. It's all just horrible. Thinking of all of you back there....Jason

[salin]

42. IMPORTANT... PLEASE Document the lack of coverage - re: FCC

consolidation issue. I just read yesterday on Salon (premium) about the hearings that Powell Jr is holding around the nation to talk about media and "localism" - they were trying to prevent the local meeting from talking about media consolidation - but attendees kept pointing out that the two go hand in hand. That consolidation promotes ownership (and thus decision making) further and further away from local communities and that this can have a deletorious effect on local coverage.

Here is an example of local coverage NOT covering an emerging local disaster - such that people are NOT being warned. THis has an incredibly HUGE impact on public safety.

We need to document actual coverage.

Then we need to create a message to send to congressfolks who are supporting overturning the FCC consolidation rules - pushing the angle of the importance of LOCALISM and local coverage and that it is not just a feel-good local coverage issue it is about PUBLIC SAFETY among other things.

Own globally, act locally?
The FCC's Michael Powell says a shortage of local and community affairs programming has nothing to do with media conglomeration. But at a North Carolina hearing, he heard from his critics.

By Eric Boehlert
Oct. 24, 2003

Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell held a public hearing in Charlotte, N.C., Wednesday night to address how media companies serve their local communities. But during a marathon open-mike session, many in the standing-room-only crowd were ready to talk about thornier issues, like the controversial media ownership rules the commission passed this summer, and outlandish behavior by local Clear Channel DJs. The message from Powell's FCC was that such topics were irrelevant. But critics had their say anyway.

It was Powell's first public outing since the FCC passed new media-ownership rules, on a party-line vote, in June. The move would allow large companies to buy more television stations and to own a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in the same city. The topic has mushroomed into a political firestorm, with the FCC facing unexpectedly stiff resistance to the rule changes from both ends of the political spectrum.

During the ownership debate, Powell suggested that a lot of the complaints he was hearing about the media -- that there's too much sex and violence on TV, and not enough community affairs programming on the airwaves -- stemmed from how individual stations were being run locally, not by who owned them nationally. So in August he appointed a task force to study the issue of localism, hold public hearings, and report back in one year. The FCC hearing in Charlotte was the first of six to be held across the country, in an effort to evaluate how well radio and television are serving the public interest. Broadcasters are obligated to serve the public good in order to get their licenses renewed.

Critics of the new FCC rules insist the issues of localism and ownership are inseparable. They argue that if radio and television stations are locally or regionally owned, participation in the community will be much more dynamic than if the owners are thousands of miles away overseeing a constellation of properties.

more (requires premium subscription - or taking a one day "free pass")
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/24/fcc/index.html

[tico]

46. 100,000 acres burned!

And these fires started 24 hours ago. This is being compared to the fires of 1970 (170K+ acres).

[Clete]

47. Kick

We are all cooking with the heat here and we are two hundred miles away.

[Zomby Woof]

50. our worst fears about 'journalism' confirmed

The infotainment creep in "journalism" IS eating away the broadcast news editors' priorities and ethics like a cancer. The end of the Fairness Doctrine wasn't the only death knell of a free and fair press. The inversion of what is important - lives and livlihoods, versus vicarious cheap thrills from celebrity shenanigans and who's bonking who... has made a mockery of what public responsibility is all about. If it is true that this is just a matter of "giving the people what they want", we're in bad, bad trouble. Still, it is the RESPONSIBILITY of journalists to give people what they NEED TO KNOW.

Profit, first, always in the "news" business though. What is stunning is that not even a major disaster is deemed ratings-worthy.

All I can really say is that I wish for the peace, safety, and protection of my neighbors next door in California.

[Zomby Woof]

51. I do get KTLA on the local cable here

Their "news" is usually of the Kobe-J.Lo variety, with breathttaking narration by the blow-dries behind the desk. I haven't tuned in yet to see if they have any coverage, but I will post haste.

I can monitor, and see if they offer any substantive coverage. Or if any at all. Appalling.

As for the media consolidation angle brought up, adding to that, what the conglomerates fail to understand in their dismissal of localization in coverage, is that when a disaster of this magnitude hits one part of the country, it is no longer just a local story. It IS local first, but so many Americans have ties to California - family, friends, business, or otherwise, that it transcends local news and should be a concern for our national community. These fires are not happening in a fishbowl on anoter world. But they are being covered (at least outside of SD and an LA station) as if they are.

Why? Are people suddenly weary of bad news? Is there a "bad news" fatigue? Isn't just the theorizing of such a phenomenom disturbing? Is this a symptom of media consolidation, or are we losing our sense of community on trans-local scales?

I do believe that could be the case - the lack of community in this country, isn't just a malady at the local level. There is a lack of feeling interconnected reaching universal status. We have a WH which bases its foreign policy on dismissing this interconnectedness on the global level - allies be damned (except when we want them to help pony up the costs), we'll do things our way or the highway.

I also notice the recent talking point by the right-wing that there is "too much bad news coverage of Iraq". They want nothing less than complete control of the information, and ANY tidbits which contradict their PNACish utopian view of Iraq is deemed "negative" and "liberally biased".

So what would their response be to the soft-selling of these fires in even regional coverage? Their "lone wolf" ideology would fail them here. The answer must lie in profit (conventional wisdom is that natural disasters are automatic human interest headliners, and this time they aren't, but read on), or the conceit that Iraq, being of great consequence and therefore "heavy" news, is the only story fit for widespread consumption. Everything else is downplayed and we don't want "too much negative news" now do we? The media is always its own best censor. No government help is necessary there. Threaten to boycott them for being "too negative", and watch the bad news headlines get reduced airtime. It in turn, enables denial by Americans that things are getting worse. Fires, what fires? Oh, that's so far away... doesn't affect me! What time is Joe Millionaire on again?

But the denial has reached an absurd epidemic proportion when this form of ignorance is tied to what IS truly, and literally, local and immediatley interconnected. If LA news is so cavalier about what goes on in San Diego, then how far can our heads be buried in the sand? How important is profit to news? I am afraid I know the answer, and dare not venture it.

[LWolf]

58. Well, it finally made the front page of the paper here.

Just this morning. After 13 people have died.

[Zomby Woof]

59. yes yes

But what about Kobe????? What about football???? :eyes:

Good Morning LWolf! :hi:

[proud patriot]

52. In 1991 when the oakland hills caught on fire

Local news was all over it all day and night .

My prayers and well wishes for all in Southern California

[Dude_CalmDown]

53. I have family in 2 brand new (now evacuated) houses in San Diego

I knew about the fires from earlier in the week but had no idea how intense they have been getting. I had no idea any of my family may loose a house. I had CNN on for at least an hour this morning and did not hear a single word about the situation. I had CBS football on all day starting with the pre-game shows. I was working on my car so I wasn't paying complete attention but I did not hear anything about it. It wasn't until around 6 PM (Eastern) when I came in to look something up and I decided to drop by DU and read the headlines. So I turn CNN on. Absofukennothin. I flip around and can't find shit anywhere. I had to come back to my computer to get any information on anything. It wasn't until about 2 hours ago that we could reach any of our relatives in California. They are all OK but my aunt's brand new house and my uncle's brand new house have both been evacuated. I can't even begin to imagine how worried they are right now.

My point? I know that they are doing all they can over there to contain the flames but where the fuck is the media? I've spent nearly 7 hours today listening to or watching a TV and it wasn't until I decided to get my political fix that I find out about what the hell is going on. Now CNN is doing round the clock coverage of the explosion in Iraq – I have been too disgusted to watch them for the last few hours but did they interrupt their regular programming to cover California? I doubt it.

[SoCalDem]

54. Please write a letter to CNN.. Their coverage SUCKED

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=594204

[Dude_CalmDown]

56. Will do.

I wasn't planning on writing anything to CNN just in case it was some crazy bit of timing that kept me missing their amazing in-depth coverage but jayzus. Skimming through that thread just makes me more pissed than I was before.

[aquart]

55. Rancho Penasquitos

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

57. It's just heartbreaking

Arnold getting elected was bad enough but I really love this state and it pains me to know that SO much of this was caused by carelessness in the case of the hunter in San Diego and arson in the Old Waterman fire.

[buddhamama]

60. i received word from KeepHopeAlive last night

she had a fire breakout four miles from her house.
helicopters with water were brought in and the situation appears to okay now.

NSMA please send my thoughts and love along to David if you speak with him again.

My thoughts are with all of you in S.Cal. take care!