Television coverage of Governor Spitzer's scandal has been relentless. From extra newscasts from most of the stations and WNET/ Thirteen's special Monday night report (the only one that seemed to gauge statewide reaction) to leading all the local newscasts, but the networks, local stations throughout the country and even the BBC World News.
When the BBC leads with an American governor’s prostitution scandal on its international news channel, it shows how big the story is, although the BBC’s Matt Frei writes, “… we Europeans love a scandal as much as anyone and we are far more outraged than we would like to think.” The insipid, cookie-cutter infotainment shows blanketing the early evening airwaves also love scandal, and they were more sharks feasting on Spitzer.
However, it wasn't sharks circling Spitzer on his way to resign on Wednesday. Instead, news helicopters resembled a flock of vultures following his SUV through Manhattan traffic. This waste of news gathering resources is almost expected today, since several stations did the same thing when Joe Torre returned home last year (and he was just a deposed Yankee manager). This also meant Conan O'Brien could spoof the chase with a toy SUV.
