TV stations love to use the breathless promo to get you to watch their news.
Well, I saw something very interesting myself the other day.
On Friday, I picked up my wife at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, as she was returning from a trip. As I turned the corner into the left-side departure lane (it's usually easier to pick her up there), I noticed a white panel van with "KSTP Channel 5" markings parked on the sidewalk next to the building. There was no one in or near the van. There was also no police officers in sight. Unfortunately, I had no camera with me, so I was unable to take a picture of it.
Obviously, it was a news crew there to cover some happening at the airport. Or was it? Terrorists have access to vans and paint as well, you know. It would be a simple matter to mock up a vehicle to look like an official news van, and then to park it where it could do a lot of damage, such as on the sidewalk right next to the building. Besides, why should a private business, even a news outlet, be able to park wherever and whenever they feel like it, especially since the peasantry is told that it's such a dire security violation, and their cars will be ticketed and towed if they leave them for as little as one minute?
Certainly, the Airport Police have a parking or badging policy in place to prevent such a tragedy, right? Right?
I decided to investigate.
I called the MSP Airport Police. The woman who answered told me that they have no policies for anyone to park in the departure lane or on the sidewalk, and referred me to the main Metropolitan Airports Commission number. The person who picked up the phone there was a little upset that the police referred me to her, as she felt that they were "passing the buck". She stated that the police are the ones responsible for traffic enforcement at the airport. She mentioned that I might try the Badging Department, to see if there is an issuance policy for news vehicles. The man I talked to there flatly stated, "we don't do parking". He told me to contact the Airport Police.
Anyone picking up on a trend here?
After finally getting off of that merry-go-round, I left messages for both Pat Hogan, the public relations director of the MAC, and Bob McNaney, a reporter for KSTP whose number I was referred to by the main KSTP switchboard. Neither responded to my request to call me back and explain how news vans get to park where they do at the airport.
I guess the story of uncovering a security hole big enough to drive a van through (pun intended) doesn't rate as news unless the big boys get to do their hidden-camera investigation.
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1 comment:
This is just a guess - but I suspect nobody involved with the airport is interested in pissing off anybody in the media. I know there's an old saying that says something about not picking a fight with a guy who buys ink by the barrel.
I'm with you though. The media seems to treat themselves as though they're above the public they're supposed to serve and they definitely seem to think they're above the law.
Ask any family member who's experienced a tragedy how they feel about the media. Ask any cop how well the media behaves themselves at a critical incident. You won't get positive answers.
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