Way to go WESH!

[Diggin' Bear]

Let's hear it for the BEST Orlando television station going, WESH! One of their fine reporters raised the ridiculous possibility that a space shuttle pad worker might actually be sabotaging the fuel transfer lines so the leak problem would delay this week's launch.

Supposedly, the motive is that when you delay a launch, it will cause the shuttle program to go on longer.

It doesn't matter that when the deadline approaches, the shuttle will be shut down, period. It doesn't matter that in order to turn a single screw on the shuttle, multiple people have to sign off on it.

It doesn't matter that NOBODY works on the shuttle by themselves.

It doesn't matter that the FACTS don't support the strange suppositions of a bizarre TV station.

Thank goodness Miles O'Brien still gets it right:

http://trueslant.com/milesobrien/2009/06/19/some-stories-are-too-good-to-check-out/

Thanks, morons at WESH! You did GREAT investigative work!

[Roy Hobbs]

Nor does it matter that the shuttle is strictly an orbiter, according to some folks.

http://www.redstaplerchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/marty%20mcfly.jpg

[ewink]

But it's on the pad, in all three(four) pieces, so right now it is indeed a shuttle.

[Roy Hobbs]

And so now you know...
http://wellsy.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/paul-harvey.jpg
..the Wesh of the story!

[scotman1]

Young + cheap + attractive - talent - adequate education - adequate training = hooray...the future of television

[Roy Hobbs]

...and the present. I just found out a mid 30's market Midwest station just hired a new reporter from market 192 one half a continent away. How do you explain that when there are a ton of great newsfolks at medium and small markets even within that state? I'll Twitter it like the newskids do...

http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/twitter.jpg


CHEEP, CHEEP, CHEEP, CHEEP, CHEAP!!!

[almostlive]

Just watched the original report and noted:

1) it sure seems like a high-ranking NASA official is acknowledging that the agency is monitoring the situation to make sure there's no hanky-panky going on

2) the reporter repeatedly stressed that the latest problem is most likely the usual explainable mishap and not sabotage

As indicated here (http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/19/possible-shuttle-sabotage-or-over-active-imaginations), however, there IS at least one past instance of misconduct by someone involved with the program. So for those who are OUTRAGED (and judging by comments on the WESH website, there are many), I say, take a chill pill. No one is accusing the workforce of widespread malfeasance. But just like the occasional rogue soldier or corrupt cop, it can happen. And I'm glad NASA takes steps to drastically reduce the liklihood anyone mucks with the space program.

As for Miles O'Brien... always thought he did a nice job reporting on space matters, but his editorial is far more sensational in its tone than that of the man he critiques. Really Miles? You think this is about reporters making stuff up to save their jobs? And you're using Dan Billow as the example? As always, just my two cents.

[Diggin' Bear]

almost,

I'd just about (notice I didn't say...almost!) buy into that explanation except for a couple of small problems:

1) the NASA policy goes back several years as a result of 9/11.

2) You're looking at a revised story after the original ran with little info.

3) the tease to the on-air version and the headline for the on-line version made it sound remarkably like NASA was worried about sabotage AT THIS TIME. Big difference between saying the agency looked into it and considered the problem before the latest set of scrubs and intimating that something MAY have happened.

4) the nitrogen leak is an ongoing problem. It's happened before.

The formula WESH used in reporting that crap is so typical of TV Snooz nowadays: there's no REAL story, so we'll pull just a tiny thread of something out and make it look like we investigated a possible problem.

SURPISE! We didn't find anything! Arent' you happy what we found won't kill you?

[wx or not]

SURPISE! We didn't find anything! Arent' you happy what we found won't kill you?
Blame Geraldo. He started us down this slippery slope with that Al Capone vault nonsense.

[almostlive]

Diggin:

Do you happen to know of a link to the original story? I was under the impression that was what I was watching.

And no -- I certainly have no idea what went into promos, headlines, or teases.

Edited to add: I still think O'Brien is way, way over the top. JMHO.

[Diggin' Bear]

Almost:

I'm reasonably sure you'll never see the original script on WESH's website after the flogging they took in the space community. The original is buried where nobody can find it and unless somebody stored a copy (internet wayback, maybe?) it's probably beyond my reach.

You may have a point about Miles, but you have to remember, NASA and CNN were days away from announcing he was going into training as Journalist in Space when Columbia crashed. That means Miles (who, by the way has a nice airplane and flies it himself) would have placed his life in the hands of the same pad workers who were smeared in the story.

Even if you think Miles is overboard, I feel for them. They have NO defense from irresponsible speculation and fearmongering.