BREAKING NEWS! Intellectually challenged news crew caught wasting video tape and bandwidth while on company time!!
Joe Shortsleeve, an alleged news reporter from Boston's WBZ Ch. 38 was caught on the internet reporting a non-story about Boston Fire Department apparatus actually leaving a fire station and traveling 1.2 miles for the purpose of procuring food.
Shortsleeve is accused by numerous Boston residents of being "pathetic" and "not smarter than a fifth grader" after posting the Feb. 8th article.
These accusations arose after the article was posted, despite comments from a retired Boston finance official and a fire commissioner stating that the practice was within policy. The accusations were further justified after it became apparent that Shortsleeve has no common sense.
Fire service pundit Joseph Schmoe said that the article "reeked of sensationalistic journalism" and called Shirtsleeves an "idiot". Schmoe also said that this was an example of why journalism is dying in America.
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The above paragraphs were posted by me as a comment to an article on the WBZ TV web-site . The article is part of the I-Team series, which apparently is an on-line investigative report series for WBZ-TV in Boston, MA. I would have written more, but I was limited to 600 characters and had to edit my comment rather heavily.
Apparently, the I-team spent a few weeks staking out a supermarket for the purpose of catching Boston F.D. Engine 32 buying groceries. Hoping to create a scandal, Shortsleeve and the I-Team attempted to give the impression that the crew of E-32 was doing something wrong by taking the unit to the store to buy food for the shift.
Shortsleeve asked a fire commissioner about the incidents and apparently didn't receive the response he was looking for. He then went to a retired finance official from the City of Boston, who told him that the crew could basically go where they wished, including the market. The third person Shortsleeve quoted was a self-described "City Watch Dog" (meaning ignorant ass with no other life than to sit through city council meetings, take notes and then bore the council and the audience by rambling at the podium for five minutes) Who said "It's just not right".
The I-team either didn't research the nature of shift-work, the need to keep crews together or the fact that some crews may work for several days straight, or they just chose not to report it. Either way, it shows that the I-team are hack reporters who are trying to create controversy.
As you might be able to tell, this kind of reporting really pisses me off. People are entitled to their opinion, but reporters have a responsibility to research an article to ensure facts and to ensure that the reader is receiving an accurate picture of the issue at hand. Unfortunately, this type of journalism is becoming more prevalent in the media.
Yet they wonder why their ratings are dropping. What an ignorant, arrogant asshole. I hope I run into him at O'Malleys.
Thanks to the Geeze over at Firegeezer.com for breaking the story.
Thanks for reading,
A pissed off Schmoe
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Yeah, the press is full of fine upstanding gems. pfffft.
ReplyDeletewell said!
ReplyDeleteDear Captain Schmoe,
ReplyDeleteI got so exercised over this b.s. I lost my comment!
What an ass. May he be called into his office to explain the long, restaurant-prepared five course lunches he takes on the clock. May said lunches give him gas so painful he thinks it is a heart attack. May he be struck with shame and self-loathing when Boston's EMS of the day very kindly tells him he is only full of s**t.
Ann T.
Capt Schmoe:
ReplyDeleteI laughed at this post. If the reporter took a minute to actually talk to a firefighter, he'd understand. I could see an ignorant story on KCMO pumper 42. "KCFD pumper goes all the way to Grandview for food." Well, that's the closest store, and Grandview is an embedded suburban city, just a mile (if that) from pumper 42's fire house. I hope our "Live Late Breaking Investigative" media knows better. What a bunch of morons.
A question: If a fire company is stationed in an area, that for whatever reason, has no grocery stores, and has to go a little ways to procure food, what do they do?
One wonders if they have considered complaining because our dynamically posted EMS crews might get a drink and use the restroom at the QuikTrip.
The Observer
My parents neighbor is a member of our local fire department, and I see them ever once in awhile shopping. I even saw them stop shopping and run out the door turn make a rescue run seems somebody had the misfortune to be in an accident and was trapped in the car. I for one consider that as dedication to the people who trust them to be there when they are needed. I also endorse and recommend this policy.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a reporter, or an investigator, I haven't done anything in the way of surveillance. Still, I know approximately when the neighborhood firemen do their grocery shopping. Sometimes by happy coincidence, that is when I'm doing my shopping. Why would anyone complain about this?
ReplyDeletegive 'em hell Capt.
Mrs. Bunker,
ReplyDeleteThis is very true! How sad that I didn't think of it first! I believe it's because our FD doesn't shop at my Soviet Grocery.
We could of course press for 'in-district shopping' but the lines at the Soviet are so long, the aisles so narrow, and the parking nil. Obviously I need to get to other, more exciting venues--where one can see gentlemen who can handle catastrophe yet have a healthy appreciation of life's more darling peaches.
Dear Captain Schmoe,
Perhaps Joey Sleeveless has been rebuffed by a peach or a peach-man. If so, I suspect it is because his oily rind masks a bitter pipkin soul.
Ann T.
Geez, we go to Florida for the winter, and WBZ-TV, Joe Shortsleeve, and the I-team goes down the tubes. Normally they are a decent bunch doing what they should to uncover others' poor choices-can't imagine what set them off this time.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delay in getting some of the comments posted, I got forced on today and have been pretty busy.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading some of the comments on the WBZ website, I don't think that they got the response that they thought they would.
It reminds me of a city councilman in L.A. county somewhere who made a similar issue with a local combination fire dept. It exposed him for the idiot that he was and he didn't get re-elected. He lost his political career over the crew going to the store.
Observer - In the KBFPD, if there is not a store in a station's "first in". the company is allowed to make one trip a day to the closest store. Some crews might bring food in, it depends on the dietary wishes of the crew.
Mrs. B - Be careful, the crew might be aware of when you shop as well.
Pee Dee - Pfft indeed.
Wallfisher - Approval noted and appreciated.
Ann T. - You be careful too. Besides, the Peoples Grocery probably has better deals on cabbage, potatoes, caviar and vodka.
Woody - Yes he is - at least he was when he wrote that article.
911 ATR - Thanks, I was a little fired up when I pounded it out.
Massgirl - Maybe AnnT is on to something, maybe he didn't pass the test years ago or maybe he was just looking to create an issue. Regardless, I don't think he succeeded.
Thanks all for the comments. Sorry for the delay.