Newsworthy
Mar. 22nd, 2004 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jere7myI just finished talking to a fellow from Channel 4 News. Fifteen minutes before that, I talked to a woman from Channel 7. Suddenly, I'm newsworthy.
Channel 7 called me while I was still in my nightshirt, and graciously agreed to wait until I got dressed before stopping by my apartment in theirGhostbusters news van. The hulking and craggy cameraman, who looked like he'd just crawled out from under a car, had me stand in front of my Klimt poster and my Distelfink clock; the well-dressed black reporter asked me about the fight on Saturday night: what did I see? Had this happened before? How badly was the victim hurt? Did I really follow the guy? I don't know if I gave them any usable footage; I stammered, and shifted from foot to foot. But it was over in three minutes.
Channel 4 was here a little longer; they had me sit on my couch, and the helpful little cameraman moved Kendra's koala (a gift from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elysdir, incidentally) out of the shot, so I wouldn't "look silly." They clipped a mike to my collar, chatted a little about the Roma poster behind me—the reporter's family was from Italy; "Do you speak Italian?" he asked me, in Italian—then ("I'm rolling!") asked me to describe what had happened. The reporter seemed attentive and a little shocked, though of course that might have been an act; my retelling was not particularly dramatic. Either way, he put me more at my ease than Channel 7. After we were done taping, he continued talking to me about movies while the cameraman got some wide shots of me.
The assailant, I learned, was indeed picked up by the police on Saturday ("He takes a nice mug shot," said the hulking cameraman) in Milan, MI—thanks, apparently, to me. The victim is still in the hospital with broken ribs and a collapsed lung. I'm slightly worried, now, about retaliation; I may call the police to ask if I need to be. I'm certainly going to ask Kendra to lock the door tonight while I'm at work.
For those in the Detroit area, the Channel 4 broadcast will be at 5PM tonight, and Channel 7's at 6. I'm quite sure I'll look scruffy and sound incoherent, yet rehearsed—if I even appear—but it was an interesting whirlwind of an experience.
Channel 7 called me while I was still in my nightshirt, and graciously agreed to wait until I got dressed before stopping by my apartment in their
Channel 4 was here a little longer; they had me sit on my couch, and the helpful little cameraman moved Kendra's koala (a gift from
elysdir, incidentally) out of the shot, so I wouldn't "look silly." They clipped a mike to my collar, chatted a little about the Roma poster behind me—the reporter's family was from Italy; "Do you speak Italian?" he asked me, in Italian—then ("I'm rolling!") asked me to describe what had happened. The reporter seemed attentive and a little shocked, though of course that might have been an act; my retelling was not particularly dramatic. Either way, he put me more at my ease than Channel 7. After we were done taping, he continued talking to me about movies while the cameraman got some wide shots of me.The assailant, I learned, was indeed picked up by the police on Saturday ("He takes a nice mug shot," said the hulking cameraman) in Milan, MI—thanks, apparently, to me. The victim is still in the hospital with broken ribs and a collapsed lung. I'm slightly worried, now, about retaliation; I may call the police to ask if I need to be. I'm certainly going to ask Kendra to lock the door tonight while I'm at work.
For those in the Detroit area, the Channel 4 broadcast will be at 5PM tonight, and Channel 7's at 6. I'm quite sure I'll look scruffy and sound incoherent, yet rehearsed—if I even appear—but it was an interesting whirlwind of an experience.
