This is why I'm not proud of my profession anymore. CNN has broken into regular programming with "BREAKING NEWS." An American Airlines flight from Palm Beach to Chicago had to be diverted to Miami because of mechanical problems. Apparently the nose gear is locked in the down position. At the moment the plane is circling the airport burning off fuel in preparation for the emergency landing.

Emergency landings happen everyday. Almost all without incident. It's usually some light that is not working or something like that. It's not really news unless the landing does not end well.

The airport is considering this the lowest level of emergency. The nose gear is the best one to lose. Even if the gear collapses on landing, the worst that will happen is a lot of sparks will fly and the passengers will shit their pants. So how does this qualify for breaking news on a worldwide network?

I hate the way tv sensationalizes everything, no matter how trivial. Someone drives their car into a house? By God, let's get the chopper on the scene. There's a house fire somewhere? Oh My God it's the end of the world. No wonder Americans are the jittery-est in the world. Every day there's a natural or man-made disaster lurking around every corner. And the media is there to point it out to you.

I've seen a million of these things in the course of my job. I already know this will end without incident. But CNN and the other networks are going to milk it for everything it's worth. I can imagine all the viewers sitting in front of their tv's biting their nails in anticipation of some horrific event.

This is nothing more than the video version of people watching a guy on a ledge, waiting for him to jump.