Sunday, December 16, 2007

Gridlock . . . or 30 Rock

by Paul Giacobbe

The heck with hundreds of Providence schoolchildren stranded on buses, the interminable commutes and interstates-as-parking-lots, to some viewers the preemption of seven minutes of 30 Rock was Thursday night’s most significant crisis.

A 30 Rock fan was upset that NBC10 had robbed him “of a half hour of joy” because he was unable to watch 30 Rock in its entirety, and also because the storm announcements which ran on-screen throughout the evening shrunk the 30 Rock viewing area.

“I consider TV news to be obnoxious and simple but this is not typically a problem for me because I’m not required to watch it,” the 30 Rock fan wrote, but by keeping storm announcements on the screen “you required me to watch it, which was quite frustrating.”

I am, I’ll admit, not a 30 Rock fan but if I was I’d sacrifice a little inconvenience to provide frequent updates for those people who had loved ones tied up in traffic, kids on school buses, or who needed a constant visual reminder NOT to go out.

Several viewers felt that NBC10 reporters did not ask the tough questions of state and Providence officials.  Why weren’t school closings more coordinated?  Why weren’t businesses asked to stagger closings?  Why weren’t police directing traffic, since much of the gridlock was caused by people creeping into, and blocking, intersections.

Bill Hudson wrote:  “I was amazed that no one challenged (Mayor Cicilline) about the city’s response to the situation.  The softball questions .  .  . (that) allowed him to cite irrelevant statistics about the number of snow plows . . . failed to get at the reality of what was happening .  .  . No one thought to ask him about what the city and the police department were doing to relieve what was the main problem – the gridlock on the city’s streets.”

Terrence McCarthy wrote to suggest that it was inappropriate and not objective for the reporter who was stuck in Thursday’s gridlock to announce, on Friday night’s news broadcast, that “this is a BIG story” and to characterize the previous night’s traffic mess as “outrageous.”  He further injected himself into the story, the viewer wrote, by mentioning during an interview with the mayor that “he (the reporter) is a parent.”

Mr. McCarthy also asked the question that, if asked by others, has certainly not been prominently reported:  What would happen if there was a terror attack, or warning, that triggered an attempted mass exodus from the city.  Would once again all the schools and businesses dismiss at the same time?