We have seen the oil slick, and it looks tasty.
At least that is the opinion of the television reporters at the site. The spill is the biggest news story of the day, but it doesn't make for good TV.
Beyond some brief video of oily ducks, the other imagery is of brownish streaks in bluish water. The video is far less compelling than the story it conveys.
That leaves reporters struggling for words that will appropriately describe what they are seeing to their viewers. You can tell where the reporters are eating lunch by their description.
One called it the consistency of chocolate mousse. Another called it melted peanut butter.
One thing is for sure, the idea of chocolate mousse floating freely in the Gulf of Mexico doesn't sound like a natural disaster.
So The Associated Press went scuba diving with Al Walker. Walker knows how to describe a disaster. He is a scuba diver who normally likes the idea of offshore drilling because the massive wells create a great new artificial coral reefs in the ecosystem.
But Walker doesn't like this oil spill.
"There are globs of death out there," Walker said. Obviously he went beyond the dessert menu to locate his visual image.
But he wasn't finished.
"We've never seen anything like this out here," Walker said. "It's like giant snot balls in the water."
Nothing says natural disaster like snot balls and globs of death.
Walker - who isn't a reporter - may be the best reporter on this story.
Kent Bush writes for the Augusta Gazette in Augusta, Kan. Contact him at publisher@augustagazette.com.
