Because sometimes they willingly spend time off the clock watching the County Council on public access TV:

Seriously, though, I think I’ve got a good reason. The drama in Anne Arundel County politics is absolutely insane — better, really, than you can find in scripted or reality TV.

We have a county executive who has been indicted, accused of misusing his police protection officers for inappropriate tasks such as picking up campaign donations, driving him to sexual escapades and making sure his girlfriends don’t run into one another.

And here, in this photo, you have the police chief being called on the carpet before the County Council and, for the most part, refusing to testify on what he knew, when he knew it and whether he did anything about it.

You can’t make this up, folks, and I can’t help but watch it unfold on public access TV.

I’ve said it before: Journalists are not normal people.