Other reports of Porter Square Books accident

[ron_newman]

Newspapers have done no meaningful reporting of the Porter Square accident, but local bloggers and photographers have done a great job.

Dave Stallard was in the cafe when it happened, and was slightly injured. He posted this long report to the Usenet newsgroup "ne.general".

Google Blog Search and Technorati Search both link to many accounts and photos of the accident.

Comments

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

you could also check out the store's website

http://www.portersquarebooks.com

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

it's a good thing the public keeps track of these things as apparently the media doesn't care.

[rxrfrx.livejournal.com]

Why should I care? This is precisely the kind of stuff that gets over-covered in the media (car drives through house, man dies for uninteresting reason, house catches on fire and is put out, etc)

[ron_newman]

Because it's an important local business that a lot of us patronize,and at least one customer was seriously injured just sitting at a table there. It's not earth-shattering news, but it's our neighborhood.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

that's a good point. why is it important people know about this sort of outlier of an accident?

[ron_newman]

it's much more relevant to my daily life than, say, Neil Entwistle. Who is also an 'outlier', but gets huge amounts of coverage.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. Is this local info more or less important than Cheney accidentally shooting his hunting pal?

I'm not sure, but it's definitely more important to me than "Why Valentine's flowers cost so much", the top headline on the Boston.com's Business section today...

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean, and I think these kinds of stories are way over-covered in national news, which ought to focus on more important things -- but it seems absolutely relevant to locals, and thus should be covered in local news.

[rxrfrx.livejournal.com]

I dunno if you're being sarcastic, but I meant that local news like "FOX 25 NEWS AT ELEVEN" or whatever, which is where I figure a lot of people get their only "news," focuses almost exclusively on this sort of inconsequential stuff, and rarely ever covers significant political stuff. I mean, both would be fine, but if you have to pick one, it shouldn't be "car crashes into building."

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

I don't watch TV news -- I wouldn't watch Fox no matter what kind of "news" it was covering. I frankly don't see how you can get meaningful coverage of anything in the 30-second sound bite format. I'm talking about the difference between local newspapers and the New York Times -- I go to one for local news and the other for national.

[turil.livejournal.com]

What I think would be even better than just covering "Car Crashes Into Building" would be to cover the stories "Federal Law Passed Requiring Cars to be Installed With Anti-Crash Technology" and "Drivers Involved in Crashes Now Required to Take Driver's Ed and Pass the Driving Test Before Being Permitted to Drive an Automobile Again" as well as "New Policy to Fund Free Public Transportation in Cities" and "Free Shuttle Service to be Offered to the Elderly, Handicapped, and Individuals Who Live Long Distances From Scheduled Bus and Train Stops."

[ron_newman]

Huh? From what I've read, at least one woman was seriously injured.

[ron_newman]

No employees were injured, but several customers were.