Bill Lantry
Member
- Messages
- 2,663
- Location
- Inside the Beltway
Trees down. Power out. Much wind. Ten inches of rain so far, and its not even here yet.
Oh boy, you touched a nerve. We have three TV stations in our area and they all claim to have the best, most accurate weather reporting.....so accurate they can even tell you what's happening in your back yard. They had constant coverage, with reporters everywhere, covering every tree down or road flooded, or person walking on the beach. I hate to think it, because to some extent it is a public service, but it's really all about the ratings. Not one station, nor anywhere on cox cable, could I find just a screen showing weather radar in my area. Nope, gotta have a talking head and sensationalize every minuscule event. Never gonna change. Even more annoying are the mandatory evacuations and then not letting people back in for a week. I'll take my chances. Just let me check my house. More and more people are staying in place because of this....oh btw, since they terrorized the public beyond imagination....
...I hate to think it, because to some extent it is a public service, but it's really all about the ratings...
Oh boy, you touched a nerve. We have three TV stations in our area and they all claim to have the best, most accurate weather reporting.....so accurate they can even tell you what's happening in your back yard. They had constant coverage, with reporters everywhere, covering every tree down or road flooded, or person walking on the beach. I hate to think it, because to some extent it is a public service, but it's really all about the ratings. Not one station, nor anywhere on cox cable, could I find just a screen showing weather radar in my area. Nope, gotta have a talking head and sensationalize every minuscule event. Never gonna change. Even more annoying are the mandatory evacuations and then not letting people back in for a week. I'll take my chances. Just let me check my house. More and more people are staying in place because of this.
We will have to agree to disagree on this one. There's a difference between public service and public circus. Ned, I'm not criticizing individual reporters, who are being sent into the field by their bosses and doing their best to satisfy ratings motivated news directors. 24/7 ad nauseam competition between stations, each trying to outdo the other in placing their reporters in the most spectacular situations and presentations a la National Enquirer is not the kind of journalism I want to watch. As to what we want to watch, fortunately with cable there are choices, but we don't all have cable and one of our stations received so many calls for regular programming they felt obligated to put up a screen crawl telling viewers to stop calling and watch the Little League championships on ESPN.