In our editorial meeting this morning, I noted to our news director that -- in my opinion -- a reality show focused on a television newsroom would be compelling stuff, way more than a show about a buxom non-journalist journalist in Tyler, Texas, (Anchorwoman - FOX) and better than a reality show about a newspaper (Bravo - Tabloid Wars).

The reason is simple.

Television news is immediate and visual. If it's news and it's happening, if it's information or an incident that affects the public's welfare, safety or even convenience, then our mission in television journalism is to disburse this information factually and visually as soon as possible.

That is often facilitated via a news chopper. The most obvious risk of having a helicopter was realized on Friday in Phoenix, as four journalists from competing stations were killed in a crash while they were covering the pursuit of a carjacking suspect.

Now, we don't have a helicopter at KOCO, and while sometimes I really wished we had one so that I could stream coverage online, today is one of those days I'm secretly glad we don't. I sympathize tremendously with what the folks at 3-TV and ABC-15 in Phoenix must be experiencing.

Most folks never comprehend how close a newsroom gets personally, working long (long) hours and working side-by-side, often spending more time with colleagues than with outside friends or family. Furthermore, many people don't realize the risks associated with news coverage, with or without a helicopter.

Because television news is so immediate, we're often at the scene of events as they're happening, which means television journalists can theoretically be in the path of crime or storms or, heck, traffic. Those situations rear themselves daily, and stations take extraordinary measures and develop thorough plans and policies to ensure nothing bad happens.

So, you might ask, if there is such a risk, then why not just wait until the event ends to cover it? Let things cool down. Play it safe.

Sure, stations are competitive with one another; however, day after day, the underlying mission of our work is to protect people through the dissemination of information. In the case of a pursuit, people at home or work -- particularly if they're about to head out -- will want to know where this pursuit is.

Is the chase happening on a highway near them? Is the guy armed? Is it near a park where my kids are playing? This applies to other types of stories, including weather coverage. Even though many people might gripe about their favorite show being pre-empted for breaking news or weather, the truth is that our very existence as chartered through the FCC is predicated upon a responsibility to keep the public informed in the present.

Plus, in the case of copter journalists, reporters in the skies work with law enforcement to ensure that suspects can be caught without the need for even riskier pursuits on roadways.

Nothing's perfect, and many criticisms of the way television stations cover certain things could be valid, I suppose. However, without coming off as pompous, our society in general and definitely our neighborhoods and communities are infinitely better off because of the work these folks in the field do day in and day out.

And if somehow that could be communicated in a transparent but entertaining fashion on a show hosted by, let's say, BravoTV, then man would you have some uber-compelling television to watch. Heck, breaking news television is the ultimate reality television, and unfortunately but thankfully very rarely, it can result in a mega-tragedy like what happened in Phoenix.