Okay, so my corner of the country has been burning to the ground. And, although I have not been directly affected by the fires, I have been slightly inconvenienced by the smoke and ash that's been falling on the city for days. If we Americans are nothing else, we are always mad about being slightly inconvenienced. The most fun thing about all this fire is the local news coverage. For several years, I have questioned the conservative mantra that the news media has a "liberal bias". Since the evidence for such a claim is just not there, I would wonder if the complainers were using a different definition of "liberal", i.e., "having the qualities of not wholeheartedly agreeing with me personally on extremely radical and divisive issues", or something to that effect. The converse argument, presented by left-leaning persons, is that, indeed, contrary to a liberal bias, the major news networks, being owned by huge corporations that depend upon conservatives for massive tax breaks and congressional support, actually have a conservative bias. I wasn't fully sold on that one, either. However, after watching local coverage of the San Diego county fires, I have finally become convinced that the major news media outlets do have a bias. And it's the stupidity bias. Every station felt the need to provide round-the-clock coverage (which led to them killing lots of time saying very stupid things), but KUSI seems to be the biggest offender. A couple of examples, if I may: The day the fires chose to start raging totally out of control was a poor choice, because, at that point, lots of San Diego County fire fighting resources had been sent to help fight the fires in San Bernardino and Ventura Counties that had started the week before. The statewide Mutual Assistance Program works like this: the fire that starts first gets the resources -- from all over the state, if necessary. If a San Diego fire engine goes to fight a fire in Ventura, and a new fire starts in San Diego, the SD engine stays in Ventura until released by the local authorities -- usually when the fire is out. That's how the system works. It makes sense, and it seems to work just fine. SD Fire Chief Jeff Bowman explained this system when asked by reporters about his strained resources at a press conference the day the fire started. "Oh, I get it," we all said. But not KUSI. Before a press conference the next day, the KUSI anchors were jabbering about how "so many of San Diego's fire fighting resources are up in Ventura and San Bernardino counties. Some people have suggested that this is a failure on the part of city and county officials, and several of our residents are outraged that this could be the case, when they are so badly needed down here." Which people suggested this? What residents are outraged? Everyone I talked to had heard the thing about the Mutual Assistance Program, and understood. KUSI must have been asleep behind the dumpster in the alley when the previous day's press conference was taking place, because the anchors asked their on-site correspondent to ask Chief Bowman about the "missing resources". Which she did (paraphrasing):

KUSI: Chief Bowman, I wonder if you could comment on why so many of San Diego's fire fighting resources are currently being used on other fires in Ventura and San Bernardino counties, and why they weren't immediately called back to San Diego upon the start of these fires? Bowman (doing his best not to roll his eyes): Well, under the statewide Mutual Assistance Program...[see above]. KUSI: Yes, but you can see how so many of our citizens and viewers would be frustrated with having so many of our resources diverted such a long way away when they're needed so badly down here. Bowman (doing his best not to punch the woman): Well, [another patient explanation of the above MAP thing].

What's the purpose of such continued, willfully ignorant questioning? Is KUSI trying to paint itself as the fearless truth-seeker, unwilling to kowtow to conventional wisdom? Or does it just like to start some shit? The next morning, they tried to start some more shit. A city school official was saying something about how the area middle schools, which were previously going to stay open as emergency child care facilities, were instead going to close for the time being. The reasons cited were poor air quality and limited resources, among others. The KUSI guy said that he had heard that they were going to be closed because the teachers' union had refused to staff them. The school official got that "Are you kidding?" look on his face and assured him that that wasn't the case. I turned away from KUSI and haven't been back since.