inane weather coverage

[Aldisimo]

I'm watching coverage of Ike, worrying about friends and family [and XMarkers] in the Galveston/Houston corridor. WHY do the news bureaus have these reporters out in the storm, getting battered with rain, trying to hang on to a tree and avoid that car that's flying past? How stupid do they think we are?

Producers: We get it!

• It's raining really hard.
• The wind is blowing really hard and stuff is blowing all about.
• The waves are crashing on shore.
• The streets are flooding.
• The power's gone out.
• It's a dangerous situation.

Producers: You don't have to endanger the reporters. We don't need a visual.

[Birddog]

That is what happens in this fast paced world with the technological leaps and bounds we have made. News is 24/7, constantly updated, and competitive. Someone sitting in a cozy office thinks that in order to keep viewership up, they have to go to extremes. One of these days, a reporter is going to get hurt, or worse. Wonder how that will affect ratings, and response...

[Aldisimo]

News is 24/7, constantly updated, and competitive.

Except that it isn't. It's just hours of opinions, "What's your sense of [whatever], and drivel dressed up as something worthy of attention. Faux News just had a teaser: What does Sarah Palin really think of Hillary Clinton?

Who gives a hoot [nice word]? Why aren't you reporting on what she says about, oh, the economy, or global warming [I mean 'climate change'], or national security, or our jobs going overseas?
</soapbox>

Now I have to go out and dance or stay in and work on my kilt, but I've got to get away from the TV for awhile.

[Aggie]

Well I'm not a reporter so I'm typing this from a nice dry house. We're about 100 miles up from Houston. They say we can expect the storm to be very close if not on us late Saturday morning. I expect our power will go out when it goes by. Of course that happens on sunny calm days. About 5:30 we got our first taste of rain and I got caught tightening screws on a metal roof. Too bad I didn't have a camera...I could have been a Weather Channel star. Hopefully that 100 miles will take a little steam out of Ike. I feel for the people still in Gaveston/Houston area. Can't be much fun. Our wind is about 23 to 29 right now. The horse pasture could use a little rain but I would rather get it the usual way. Good luck to those forum members in Houston area.

[george7]

My girlfriend, who works for a certain liberal candidate, was told she had to work during Fay. I was not impressed. (42 inches of rain in 72 hours. Air boats instead of cars in the streets.)

[Beertigger]

How stupid do they think we are?

People are stupid enough that they didn't get the * out when they were told that they'd face certain death if they stayed.

If standing out in some wind and rain helps get the point across a little earlier, good.

I do agree that most TV standups are silly (which is why we don't have our staff do them in our videos), but when they DO help illustrate a situation, they have their place.

[Pleater]

Is there perhaps the attitude that it is not really dangerous, not really truly putting your people in harms way to tell them not to be whimps and get out there so people can see how you get blown about a bit in a hurricane, but it isn't all that bad.

One day - live on camera there will be the squashing of a reporter by flying debris, or perhaps the cutting in two by a street sign - it is only a matter of time if they are out there in the storms.

On one of my other lists someone who has moved away is concerned as instead of leaving their trailer and coming to stay at the same place, her in-laws are now cut off by floods and completely at the mercy of the weather.

We get the remains of these large storms in the UK some days after they hit the US - and they are bad enough to cause accidents on the roads and flooding, and wind damage on a small scale. Each year a couple of people, usually youngsters, get swept away by huge waves when they push their luck too far.

[Jerry]

Reporters have always gone "in harm's way'". Think of the war correspondents in WW II. quite a few of them were injured or killed, the most famous being Ernie Pyle. It also happened in Korea, Viet Nam as well as the current conflicts. They know the risks they are taking.

[bigdad1]

Reporters have always gone "in harm's way'". Think of the war correspondents in WW II. quite a few of them were injured or killed, the most famous being Ernie Pyle. It also happened in Korea, Viet Nam as well as the current conflicts. They know the risks they are taking.

Not the same thing at all. Ernie Pyle was a hero and he was reporting something relevant such as a war in a time of no televisions or computers. Other war correspondents during Korea and Vietnam were also doing something worthwhile and they did know what risks they were taking. Telling a mid-twenties woman to go stand in the teeth of a hurricane isn't comparable. What does she know about risk? She just wants face time. The stations could put a remote camera out there and not risk lives. It isn't just the reporter who is at risk it is the police and fire and other rescue people who have to go help the dolts when they get into trouble. The reports from the middle of a storm or other natural disaster make as much sense to me as when the President or some other politician feels it necessary to spend taxpayers money to go see for them selves that indeed New Orleans is flooded.

[Frank McGrath]

Having not weathered a real storm since Agnes, I really feel for the people getting blasted in Texas right now. I looked at my wife the other day and told her I felt bad complaining about the drizzle we were getting at the time. I have a sister in College Station and I hope that she and her family are safe. Best wishes to all in that area. Stay safe.

Frank