Speculation is NOT News!

I'm watching CNN Headline News, which is the most schizophrenic network on television. It's great in the morning and infuriatingly stupid in prime time. But that's not the point right now.

The are covering "Breaking News" of a car chase in California. Police have been following a driver for over an hour on the northbound freeway. There are at least two news helicopters in the air following the chase and sending their feeds probably everywhere. It's actually kind of fascinating to watch this as it unfolds.

But the commentators are totally inane. I don't know how many they've got piped in, but I'm hearing at least four or five different voices, including Wallace Zeins, a former NYPD hostage negotiator. No, this isn't a hostage situation, but I guess they feel he has some valuable insights. Actually, because he knows police procedures, his comments are far more interesting that the ignorant newspeople's attempts to offer something relevant.

What amazing me is how these people keep talking non-stop with absolutely no knowledge of what's going on. They think it might be a woman, but they're not sure. She might be suspected of DUI, but maybe the chase started with a traffic violation. Could she have a gun? Might there be warrants out for her arrest? What is her mental state? Does she have curly hair?

The speculation keeps going on and on and on and as time goes by they seem to stretch further and further. Now they're talking about "copycat" crimes. Could she be copying something she saw or heard on the news? Could someone else think it would be cool to take the police on a long drive like this? And, oh do they love it when a police car pulls a little closer to her! Wait...wait...wait...something is happening here! They might be making a move on her! Oh, no, I guess not.

But I guess that's what we've come to accept from our newscasts these days. Instead of objectively reporting the news, we let our journalists ask a bunch of unanswerable questions and we assume they are doing their jobs.

Even better...they just broke away for a commercial break! Do you think they got a message to the police to not doing anything for the next couple of minutes? It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest!

And now I guess they are finally bored. Back to the studio and the news as scheduled.

Oh...wait! They just broke into a commercial to go back to the live coverage! She's slowing down and pulling over. And...now Comcast broke in with their OWN commercial! Incredible!!! Their pre-scheduled local commercial break took over! OK...back to live...and now our newscasters are asking why the heck the cops didn't force her to the ground and how they know no one else is in the car. Still doing their jobs. But I sure bet they wish it had ended in a spectacular shootout. Oh well, that Emmy will just have to wait until another day.