No one at the scene with any authority had anything to say about such a lab. That was the most egregious example, but the afternoon was littered with them. And on and on it went all afternoon. I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness for Channel 5's and WPTY-TV Channel 24's helicopters. They were able to provide a visual perspective and show a scope of activity that was impossible on the ground.
TV stations go live on breaking news stories because they can.
But once the commitment to go live is made, either you stay on the air with little information to report, or you go back to regular programming and risk being second or third with any new information that does emerge. Plus, you anger viewers of regular programming no matter what you do. It happened both ways Wednesday. Channels 13 and 24 didn't stay on the air as long as Channels 3 and 5 did. The decision certainly paid off for Channel 5.