Tonight’s eleven o’clock news on our local ABC affiliate LED OFF with a story about a man who called 911 because he was not allowed to enter a night club. The upshot of the story was that the man was high on something, and he wanted the police to force the night club to let him in. A bizarre story, to be sure, but news? And lead story news?

Oh, and did I mention… this whole story took place A WEEK AGO! A full week ago! And yet– get this– it is reported by a reporter who is LIVE on the scene of the night club. A WEEK LATER, THE REPORTER IS STILL THERE AT THE NIGHT CLUB for what reason? Is there a possiblity that more news might happen there? And just maybe the reporter might be able to relay it to us LIVE? Why in the world do we need a LIVE report when the “news” (and I use that term extremely losely) happened a full week ago?

Oh, and did I mention… after they led with this “news” story (this is a news broadcast, not Entertainment Tonight, isn’t it?) they went on to report about other items– things that might possibly be construed to be real and actual news; like a fatal head-on collision on a freeway (the second in as many weeks in that same area); a man pleading not-guilty to murdering a 77 year-old woman; the indictment of a school Superintendent on allegations of criminal mistreatment of a teenager. I would suggest that any one of these stories is more newsworthy– and more worthy of being a lead story for a broadcast– than was the “story” of a stoned man calling 911 in order to get into a night club.

Can you guess why they led with this story that really wasn’t news? Here’s the honest truth they don’t want you to realize: They led with it because they had a mobile news crew available. That’s really why– so they could say “We’re LIVE on the scene…”

When is news not news?

When it’s LIVE just because they can.