I was coming out of a store with my cousin on Saturday when a man got her attention and asked if we had a minute. My cousin told him that we were in a hurry, and we were - my aunts were coming to dinner, and we had a lot to do before they arrived. Nevertheless, he introduced himself as a reporter with Channel 13 news and asked, "Do you mind if I ask how you feel about what happened here last night?"

Neither of us knew what had happened there last night, and we told him so.

"There was a multiple homicide on this corner."

Again, we said we hadn’t heard anything.

"That’s okay, I’ll tell you about it, then ask you some questions." Motivated by curiosity, we made half-hearted "okay" noises and followed him as he headed toward a tripod that had been set up.

I stopped short and blurted out what I’d finally put together. "On camera?"

He turned around, and as if explaining an unfamiliar treat to a child said, "Yes, it’s for television."

I glanced over at my cousin and saw we were thinking the same thing.

"Uh, sorry, I don’t think so."

Now it was his turn to stop short. "What?" He looked surprised and confused.

"We really are in a hurry," my cousin said.

I already have a long list of reasons to avoid TV news, but now I can add first-hand knowledge that ignorance of an event doesn’t necessarily disqualify you from being interviewed on TV about it.