The Literal Tragedy of word abuse!

Overheard on a Local TV Newscast..."drivers are literally ditching their cars in favor of mass transit". I watched the story with interest, to see if there were, in fact, car owners abandoning their vehicles in ditches and taking the bus. Of course that was not the case, and I chalked it up to another example of a reporter misusing one of the most abused words in broadcasting. "Literally" means something in fact happened as described...it is the opposite of "figuratively". A correct example: "An Alabama man has found himself literally on top of the world. Joe Smith traveled to the North Pole as part of an adventure travel program at AUM." Broadcasting has also managed to strip other words of their power, if not their meaning. "Hero" is one. "Tragedy" is another. Someone who is killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time is not a hero. The death of an individual in a car accident, sad as it may be for the victim's family and friends, doesn't quite rise to the level of a "tragedy in Blount County". Another misuse of "literally" was in the TV News story that reported on big crowds at a store opening. 'The store was literally bursting with customers", said the reporter. Now there's some video I want to see!