Saturday, July 04, 2009

House Fire In KC-KS Saturday Morning? I Think NOT K.C. STAR...



F
or those of you who don't know- I work for Kansas City news media- Saturday and Sunday mornings midnight to 7am.


This is why on weekends- KSHB 41Action News has stories that other news media outlet either don't have or had to scramble to cover after the fact.

On nearly a dozen and a half scanning radios- I log whatever comes in of possible criminally-injurious nature or damaging to property.

I regularly log more than 50 items per shift- stuff you NEVER see reported in Kansas City's news media.

The equipment here also is designed for redundancy so I don't miss ANYTHING dispatched by the big cities in the Metro- or in the outlying areas (about a 40-mile radius) for that matter- even if the airwaves are rocking.

Rising from a day's unconsciousness after putting in my weekend all-nighters- among other sources I check into the STAR's "Breaking news" page for an update of the day's happenings.

I came to a screeching halt when I read one of The STAR's stories- what you see on the following screen-capture:

The fact there was a house fire at 2:34am Saturday morning in KC-KS near 20th Street and Troup was news to ME!

VERY odd- for at 0233 Central Time (KC-KS's dispatch clocks are incorrect daily) FRIDAY morning- I logged a house fire "in the area of North 22nd Street and Troup" and that fire- also in a "vacant" house- was found in the same place (1981 North Troup) that a supposed fire THIS morning was reported.

I didn't log a house fire at 1981 North Troup Saturday morning BECAUSE it happened 24 hours earlier than what The K.C. STAR reports today.

Last week- the paper mis-reported the name of an apartment complex (Valencia) where there was a fire. I'm seeing more and more of this stuff in a paper that's supposed to be a beacon of accuracy.

It may be no big deal to you- but if The STAR can't get these little things accurate- what about the BIG stories?
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