My condolences to the Jackson family over the loss of Michael Jackson.  I know what losing a family member feels like and I genuinely feel sorrow for their loss.  It's much less affecting for me that the world lost a popular entertainer.

Hey, but I have a job to do.

See, it is news (and it's some sweet overtime ka-ching!), but covering the Michael Jackson "funeral" at Forest Lawn yesterday seemed like all kinds of overkill.



Not in the media covering it at all (I loves me some media circus), but in having another service after so much was done publicly in the past couple of months.



Certainly it's not my place to tell the Jackson family and friends how to honor the passing of a Michael Jackson.



There's just so much that seems calculated and contrary to what they claimed was their intent in having a private service.



It just doesn't seem like the fans or the media would be paying as much attention right now if the family weren't broadcasting so loudly their desire to be left alone.



Working for the media, this is one of those times where I'm sure my perspective on things is different from the average person.



It's just that two months later, I was actually pretty sure they had already buried him.  I don't really want to think about where he's been kept for the last 60 days.



Still, last night I found myself recording a downlink from the pool camera that had been arranged to be placed inside the cemetery.

Hundreds of print and video media lined up on the temporarily closed streets in front of Forest Lawn.



One interesting tidbit you should know, the Jackson family arrived an hour and a half late.  I'd heard it was because they wanted to let the late afternoon traffic die down.

There was a no-fly zone restriction over the area that was in effect to prevent helicopters from crashing the funeral.



That no-fly zone restriction expired at 8:30pm.  Right around the time that the Jackson family actually arrived at the cemetery.

I don't know if any other helicopters made to Glendale, but I know we got footage from one of ours.  Maybe that violated the privacy wishes expressed by the family or maybe it was a calculated move that allowed extended media coverage.  I don't mean to stir up anything and I'm not making an accusation.  It's just too difficult to tell sometimes when dealing with the Jackson family what's personal and what's just part of the business.

I wonder how the Jackson family and friends felt when our helicopter left to follow a high speed chase.