What kind of sick vampires are we, that we have to sit in front of the tube (TV or computer) and suck the anguish and despair out of disasters? I can understand the reporting the death tolls, the property destruction - even the bodies floating in the water. But “Screams for help”? What kind of news website from Hell did I tune in to?
CNN: you are vultures pecking at the dead and dying in the wake of Katrina. You disgust me.
Last night, I laughed out loud to hear Wolf Blitzer say, “We’re getting some horrible, horrible video from New Orleans, and we’ll show it to you, after the break.”
“Hundreds of thousands are left homeless tonight but we would like to show you these dolphins. They were moved into a swimming pool to wait out the storm. That’s right, a swimming pool. Interviews with dolphin experts and people that really like dolphins coming up next.”
Of course that is what they show, that is what the society wants and that give them viewers and that givers them the status that the advertisers want and that makes them money and that is ALWAYS the bottom line…
Even before the storm hit, you could just hear the glee in the anchors’ voices as they anticipated the pain and misery to come … It really creeped me out.
In all fairness, it’s not just CNN, but all the news outlets.
I just saw those CNN links to the videos on their website and I was thinking, “What kind of sick fuck wants to hear victims screaming in the aftermath of a hurricane?”
I think I preferred the incessant Aruba girl coverage.
The thing that kills me is that in this – as in other reports like this – there’s horribly little useful information. Nobody, as far as I can see, is plotting maps that show the flooded areas (as opposed to city maps showing levee positrions), or something to give you an idea of the depths. People who want to know about friends, relaives, etc. could really use that information.
Don’t tell me it’s not available. That’s why you’re in the news business – you’re supposed to be getting it!
Hard data would be a helluva lot more valuable than streaming video of people clinging to houses and cars being inundated.
You may think it’s callous and perhaps it is, but it serves a purpose. If we see the people getting rescued from roofs, if we hear anguished voices of the trapped, then perhaps next time around people might take these evacuation seriously.
Nah. It just means they’ll have to up the stakes for the next disaster. I figure we’ll see people on their roofs to escape the flood while their houses are on fire!
One of the MSNBC reporters went to Aruba to cover the hurricane. Her first words were “Katrina didn’t strike here, but I’ll be bringing you up-to-the-minute…”
Oh, and who can forget the overblown coverage of that one guy?
You know, some media outlet has some phoned-in report from a man in his house who says he will ride out the rising water, since he has an aze and a crowbar and will break through his roof when it comes to that.
Every media outlet I’ve listened to or watched has repeated this story ad infinitum. The head of FEMA was on TV, and mentioned “I know we have reports of people breaking through their attics with axes”. But he was basically saying that they couldn’t get to anyone for awhile, and anyone who ignored the evac order was Shit-Out-Of-Luck.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I am absolutely unimpressed by reporters who “risk their lives” to bring us “up-to-the-minute” coverage of storms and hurricanes by giving us live coverage from the site of the storm.
“This is Jim Stone, reporting live from New Orleans where Katrina is currently. It’s raining here. It’s been raining for a while, and it’ll probably keep raining for a while longer. I’ll be back soon to show you that it’s still raining.”
What a waste of airtime. It just goes to show you that we have too damn many channels.
I doubt it. Judging from the footage I saw of the choked roadways (before there was enough footage of wholesale carnage, I guess), the evacuations are taken seriously. You’re always going to have a few nuts who are too dumb to get out of the way of a category-5 hurricane. I don’t think they can be disuaded with footage of other people screaming and drowning.
After all, millions of hours of drivers ed videos, Real TV, and ER haven’t convinced everyone to wear seatbelts or abstain from driving while drunk. A certain set of people just say “That won’t be me - I can handle it.”
