Saying WMAQ is operating “at the top of its news game,” the Chicago Business Journal is giving the NBC-owned station high praise for its coverage of a recent high-speed chase.
For some 40 amazing and utterly-riveting real-time minutes, Channel 5’s veteran helicopter-based reporter Mike Lorber tracked a homicide suspect barreling through Chicago streets in a black Jeep at speeds up to 70 miles per hour with many police cars in pursuit. Channel 5 viewers got a birds-eye view of the startling chase as Lorber covered the rapidly-unfolding drama from an unbeatable helicopter perspective, while competing local TV stations were nowhere to be found on the story.
The praise is notable in that a print publication is applauding a local TV news outlet for what is often considered the lowest common denominator of the medium: the high speed chase.
The CBJ goes on to say that when station gm Frank Whittaker made the call to stick with the chase instead of going to NBC Nightly News, “That development added yet another layer of tension and uncertainty to a story that Lorber stayed with, offering expertly-modulated and informative reportage the whole way.”
[newslab]Though Whittaker seemed to know his station delivered something exceptional late Tuesday afternoon, he tried to downplay it a bit in the interview today as just another moment in the never-ending news cycle Channel 5 aims to cover. “Breaking news is what we’re here to do,” said Whittaker.