Media Insensitivity to Sugar Refinery Blast

In the world we live in, we shouldn't be surprised that there is always someone out to make a buck off of any situation. But when it's your hometown paper allowing someone several states away to do that, it just makes you sick.

On page 4-A of the Savannah Morning News this morning was a full page ad from a law firm in Texas soliciting people injured in the blast to contact them for legal representation. Yes, we expect lawyers to be chomping at the bit to get their names in on this, (check out what New York lawfirm Mark & Associates, P.C. has put together) but really, couldn't our hometown paper show some respect for all involved and postpone the printing of this ad? I mean really, the fires aren't even all out yet.

But the insensitivity doesn't stop there. A reporter from Jacksonville, FL, Jennifer Bauer of WJXT (aka "Jen the News Junkie") wrote on her blog about what a tragedy it was that there was no Starbucks in Port Wentworth:

Josh Beauchamp (my photographer) and I were live at 6pm, 6:30 and 10pm. Not only was it a sad day...it was going to be a LONG ride home! Before we got into the truck and started on our 2 1/2 hour journey I said, "I could really go for a coffee. Not a gas station coffee...a Starbucks coffee!"Well...good Luck trying to find a Starbucks in Port Wentworth - they don't even have a McDonalds! So...Josh used his handy dandy GPS to locate the nearest...11 miles away (22 miles round trip.) We decided to do it! Half way there Josh asked, "I wonder what time they close?" Good question, considering it was after 11pm. We called them and they told us they were in the process of locking their doors. UGH!

Jen goes on in the post to say that they called Starbucks and explained they were with the media and the store stayed open so they could get their coffee. I'm not surprised, it's a little thing called Southern hospitality. However, I don't think being a media person in this situation should grant such entitlement, but to each her own. Now, had it been one of our local reporters who were on the scene for many hours (as with WTOC and WJCL/FOX), not just to broadcast segments at three showings, that would be a different story.

I did a Google search to find the station where she works. Her bio boasts that:

She was also one of the first to arrive in Biloxi, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina crippled the area in August 2005.

You kinda have to wonder how far around she had to call to get a Starbucks that was open. After all, she's media, and they must be more important than the fire, ems, emergency workers, victims and families that are trying to figure out how to get through hour after hour without their Starbucks fix.

Funny enough, after her blog entry was posted on a local Savannah blog, several folks went and posted comments on the news jokie's blog. I was in an onery mood and decided to leave a feedback email through the news station's website commending them on hiring reporters with such high journalistic objectivity and integrity. Who knows if it went through; I never saw a confirmation message, but I felt better. I have lots of compassion for all that have been affected by the explosion, including my emergency and crisis worker friends who continue to work at the site and with the families. As such, I take great offense to anyone trying to make light or take advantage of the situation.