This picture was taken just a few miles from my house, over Diamond Bar, CA. For now, my house is safe, although my son's school has just opened an evacuation center for people whose homes are south of here. The air is thick with smoke and we are trying to figure out what is going on. Unfortunately, the coverage on LA TV stations is totally useless.At 8 pm on Sunday evening only ONE station is on the air. The rest are showing the usual November network sweeps programming. The folks on KCAL seem obsessed with the Sylmar fire in north LA County and there is little information about what is going on here, except for the occasional "up close and personal" story about someone refusing to leave their house in Diamond Bar. The local TV cannot be relied upon for even the most basic information, such as school closings. Sharon Tay on KCAL chirped, "Just go to our website for the latest." Well, Sharon, I went there only to find that LAUSD and Pomona are open, but nothing about the schools in the threatened areas. Gee, thanks.
I have always believed that local disaster brings out the best in local TV news. But as a viewer, hungry for information about anything about this fire that could affect my community, I have never seen worse coverage. The strategy seems to be to zoom in on a picture of a flame, any flame, and allow the reporters to ramble on while we look at the scary pictures. No attribution, no interviews with fire officials. Hundreds of homes will be destroyed in this fire and any remaining confidence anyone had in TV news will die along with them.
