My personal thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the now deceased Jason Pipho and hospitalized Chad White. I pray for the recovery of Chad White and comfort for the loss of Jason Pipho, and finally the diligence of law enforcement to capture the disgraces to the human race responsible for this tragedy, so the community can enforce appropriate justice. The community at large needs up to date knowledge concerning this horrendous crime, and luckily, the community possesses sources of information beyond the increasingly decrepit pages of The “Mighty” Signal.
With respect to this incident, if one relied solely on the coverage of the Signal, one would only know the following 60 hours on: A person or persons unknown murdered an unknown person sometime over the weekend in Stevenson Ranch. The murder occurred at or near a condo complex where neighbors lodged previous complaints concerning loud parties. The end. This appeared in a headline story in Sunday’s Signal.
So how do I know more details concerning the tragedy? Like many Sclaritans, for timely news I must go to the web based publications of KHTS Radio, the West Ranch Beacon, and SCVTALK.com. All of these web based sources, and the broadcast of KHTS, diligently followed this story over the last two and one-half days, sometimes running down their own information by contacting and interviewing witnesses, neighbors, friends and family members. Each twelve hours KHTS in particular provided a new update both on their broadcast and on their website with new information.
Understandably, the Signal could not put anything in the Saturday morning paper since the incident occurred long after the print deadline for the Saturday edition. However, with all day Saturday to work on the story one might expect more thorough coverage in the Sunday morning edition, but then reporters sometimes find it difficult to contact sources over the weekend, so 48 hours later in Monday’s paper one might expect a more thorough treatment.
But what did the Signal report on their front page Monday morning with a killer or killers still on the loose and the names of the victims still unreported? Two stories on the Hart District: one concerning the installation of security cameras on campuses and parental involvement under No Child Left Behind. Two more stories on the front page: 11,000 people showing up at the Saugus Swap meet on Saturday and the story of a cop finding a wife through a bicycle club.
Would that I could make up this kind of stuff! Maybe the connection in their mind related to deputizing the 11,000 swap meet attendees into a posse for a street by street search to find the perpetrator or getting the lovelorn cop to run them down on his bicycle.
Why the lack of coverage? Could the Signal use the excuse of respect for the families involved and protecting their privacy? Not likely, since family members and friends lit up the message boards of “Tell it to the Signal” on Saturday afternoon providing details and soliciting the public for tips. A review of the Signal website on Monday evening revealed they would finally run an additional story on Tuesday, a full two days behind KHTS, web news sources, and, ironically, posts on their own community message boards.
And then, on Tuesday, now the third day after the homicide, the Signal finally identified the homicide victim, but utilized hearsay information concerning the crime from the Josh Pipho’s brothers, and still stubbornly refused to identify the gravely injured Chad White.
One can only conclude the Signal will continue its lazy decline into mediocrity, covering local stories only when someone sends in a press release they can cut and past (look for many “soft” Hart stories over the coming months) or a family member calls in some hearsay information and filling the rest of the continually shrinking paper in with wire stories read by everyone interested at least 24 hours earlier.
I received factual confirmation of the ultimate demise of the Signal from, of course, KHTS on Monday morning when Carol Rock and John Dell reported that SCOPE, an activist organization that long relied on guest editorials and letters to the editor in the Signal to get their message to the greater community, applied for a license for a 100 watt radio station that could broadcast their message to the greater Santa Clarita Valley.
Oh, well, one can always hope the next murderer in the SCV will issue a press release, so the Signal can stay on top of the coverage!
Tim Myers Commentary
Tim Myers is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Landscape Development, Inc. He has been writing on a wide variety of local topics for more than 11 years. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.
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