I honestly can’t believe this! Here in Nevada we have felt the effects of the housing crunch as much as any state. Working at our church here I come across a lot of families who have been hit hard. This past week I sat down with a family who was slammed by the economy and they were living in their car with 5 kids. Just so you know – temperatures here are triple digits already. I looked at the forecast this past week and there wasn’t a day that wasn’t over the century mark.
And with gas at $4.26 a gallon out here it’s not like they can afford to keep the car running to keep everyone cool. Fortunately we were able to get them into an apartment and back on their feet. But this is every day around here. Family after family, person after person.
So you would think the local news would be covering ways to avoid foreclosure. Or showing you steps you can take if you can’t get out of that situation. Places to go, organizations to seek for help. Shelters, programs, the Federal bailout program. Nope. They decided to do a story on how the economy was effecting the world’s oldest profession – prostitution. Now don’t get me wrong, Jesus loves prostitutes and porn stars as much as he loves me, but come on. There are bigger issues here right? If they were covering the real issues they would be informing these ladies on measures they could take to avoid a horrible financial fate.
I wonder if they are trying to drum up business for them? I also would have loved to been in that meeting where the idea was pitched. I tried to script out what this would look like.
INT – NEWSROOM – DAY We see a newsroom where multiple journalists sit around a conference table. The room is dimly lit and there are papers everywhere. The team has been in this meeting for a over an hour pitching stories and receiving their assignments. The mood of the room is urgent, it seems everyone is ready to hit the ground running to start their reports. Then the News Director speaks up.
NEWS DIRECTOR
Alright team, before we dismiss is there anything else
A hand goes up at the far end of the table and everyone sighs, including the News Director who is clearly frustrated – we can tell from his reaction this isn’t the first time Ron has pushed his buttons
NEWS DIRECTOR
Yes Ronnie.
RONNIE
I have an idea for a new story.
Our New Director let’s out a big sigh and puts his hands on his hips before he answers
NEWS DIRECTOR
What is it Ronnie? Spit it out.
RONNIE
I think that we should go out to Parumph and see how the brothels . . .
A very loud collective sigh and groan comes from the entire room preventing Ronnie from finishing his sentence. NINA, an anchor speaks up.
NINA
You’re pitching that again Ron? You’re such a . . .
NEWS DIRECTOR
Ronnie we talked about this last time. The station is not going to send you to a brothel. No matter how hard you try.
The whole room breaks into a chorus of jeers as they start to stand up and leave the room Ronnie screams to get their attention and break the silence.
RONNIE
No people, I’m not talking about that idea again. I gave that up after I was suspended with pay.
NEWS DIRECTOR
I would hope so.
RONNIE
I think we should cover how the economy is causing a downturn for the number of customers – how the economy is effecting them too.
NEWS DIRECTOR
Brilliant! Only we’ll send Denise – not you.
RONNIE
Son of a . . .
Fade to black . . . .
And scene. If you should want to read the story or see the video – hit up the link here:
[Fewer "dates" at Nevada's brothels during economic slowdown] via [KVBC Las Vegas]