Bay Bridge "reporting" dreadful; sheep mentality invades SF media

For the better part of three days, we DO know this: the Bay Bridge is down; traffic is a bitch; BART is really busy; and the Bay Bridge is still not open. Kind of reminiscent of Generalissimo Francisco Franco: he's still dead.

You might want to say the same for the Bay Area media, whose coverage on this topic-A story has been nothing short of miserable. Or, would you call otherwise normal-looking reporters who act as if they were a part of the Cal Trans PR dept. competent?

There's no denying the importance of letting the public know when the Bay Bridge is going to open; it is the single biggest traffic center in the Bay Area and involves hundreds of thousands of people's lives and livelihoods. We get it.

But in these three days of Bart Ney and Trent Cross, (the Cal Trans PR guy and the peripatetic CHP officer/spokesman) you'd have thunk that some honest-to-goodness REPORTING would have taken place...like, oh, I don't know: what the hell happened? Who were the inspectors that ok'ed the infamous eyebar work that was supposedly given the thumbs up?

Need more? That 5000 lb glob of cable that fell on the pavement? Is the pavement safe, Cal Trans? Could there have been damage to that road? I haven't seen nor heard any of those questions, but I have received about 18,000 "updates" on when the bridge would open from Bart Ney, whose received more face time on Bay Area TV than an American Idol episode.

The days of in depth reporting are long gone. No one seems interested in finding out the STORY behind the story. The focus seems to be more on taking every bit of information pamphlets and sound bites from Cal Trans as opposed to ASKING some very bottom line questions.

Nobody is immune here from normally solid KCBS radio to even KTVU. I'd love to see Rita Williams, for example, go after the dude that was responsible for the Labor Day work that signed off on this problem. Was he/she rushed so the trucks and commerce that make it over that bridge could get back to work? Would have been nice for Bob Melrose or Barbara Taylor, (some of the best street reporters for KCBS) to inquire more meat and potatoes as opposed to the mundane 44Th press briefing at Cal Trans hdqrs. in Oakland.

Even on the Internet, there seemed to be a lot of the same old tired info which amounted to more sweet little nothings.

Think about what would have happened if that entire bridge collapsed? A prominent UC structural engineer said the Sept. work amounted to a "band-aid" and that the old bridge needed major re-enforcements. It would be nice if some reporter were to lob that question to Mr. Ney and all the inspectors, but at last check, all Mr. Ney was doing was informing the sheep about whether the bridge would be open in time for Halloween in the city.

Trick or Treat? You be the judge.

UPDATE: 10: 18 PST:

Take a look at this; Brock Keeling on SFist.
I rest my case:

Bay Bridge Might Reopen Sometime Soon at Some Point In the FututeYep. It's still closed.

What are people saying about the third consecutive day without a Bay Bridge? Well, ABC7 reports "Caltrans has officially said the Bay Bridge will not reopen Friday morning. There is some hope that will reopen by this afternoon."

SF Appeal says, "Caltrans crews are working to reopen the Bay Bridge as quickly as possible, with a goal of reopening the span sometime on Friday."

At KRON 4, Darya Folsom seems to be losing her well-sustained pep over the bridge closure. Her hair, however, remains luxurious and nothing short of perfection.

SFGate reports, "Repair crews were still on the bridge at 6:30 a.m. fitting and cutting steel" and "electric devices that monitor vibration and structural movement will be affixed to the repair to warn of failure." Modern!

SF Weekly injects some much needed but not-so timeless Twitter fail whale humor into the situation.

KTVU illuminates, "Dale Bonner, secretary of the state Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, was also cautious to not give commuters false hope when he told a packed news conference that 'it's very difficult to say when' the span will reopen."

By Brock Keeling in News on October 30, 2009 10:04 AM