16 April 2008

CTV, once again, cherrypicks the news

On our way back from a foray into Belleville yesterday, Mrs. Neo and I happened to come across Red Star reporter Emily Mathieu and her camera guy on the River Road south of Foxboro...
-- BELLEVILLE, Ont. -- The city remains in a state of emergency today, with more water potentially on its way.
Now, you should note that, unlike the previous day, the city of Belleville was no longer blocking access to rubberneckers like myself... and, of course, Emily... which seems to imply, to me anyway... that this horrible emergency was getting better, not worse.

And what disaster epic would be complete without a reference to firefighters?
"Last night members of the Belleville Fire Department and several volunteers handed out bottled water and advised residents on how to deal with contaminated wells."
Which advice... and I confess I'm just speculating here... was, in all likelihood... "Don't drink from them."

Emily then goes on to quote...
"They also told people how to safely handle electrical equipment after a flood."
Again, I'm no engineer... or firefighter... but I'm thinking this may have been something along the lines of... "If it's immersed in water, don't, for heaven's sake, turn it on."

The "money shot" here, though... has to be canoe lady.
"I haven't done this since I was 7 years old," said neighbour Mariane Quarrie as she serenely paddled a canoe through the front yard of her river road home.
Of course, what your average Torontoid may not realise is that a flat-bottomed, one occupant canoe... actually has a draft of 3 or 4 inches.

Oh yeah... did I mention Emily and Cam-boy were able to simply walk up to the houses to get their interviews and pictures?

Emily sure didn't.

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