If You're Reporting The News To Me 'Live' From The Middle Of A Hurricane - Blow This!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Who was the first television news executive who came up with the brilliant idea of televising live reports right from the middle of a hurricane? With the 24/7 cable news outlets trying to provide information on literally every rain drop that falls from the sky, things have gone from bad to worse. Instead of just getting endless hours of Doppler images for our viewing pleasure, we’re now treated to the spectacle of Geraldo Rivera and Anderson Cooper yelling information about the storm while they’re standing in it.

Even by TV news standards, these live reports are ridiculous.

For starters, with the wind whipping by at speeds my Mustang couldn’t reach, I can’t even hear what these idiots are trying to holler to me. For all I know, they’re reading passages from a Dr. Seuss book. To tell you the truth, all I usually hear coming from their microphones is something that sounds an awful lot like an extended version of the sound my grandfather makes when he clears his throat between cigarettes.

Secondly, it has become quite evident to me live TV signals don’t travel very well through the atmospheric disturbances that accompany a hurricane - especially when they’re generated from a portable transmitter on a Florida beach. If I wanted to watch gray static, I’d rip the cable wire off the back of my TV set - I guarantee it would be just as informative as these ‘Ivan’s Landing’ reports. On those rare instances when the live video feed is more than just electronic snow accompanied by the anchor asking the reporter, ‘can you hear me now?’ - all I see are images of rain, windswept trees and some Edward R Murrow wannabe doing his best impression of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

I have to laugh at the hypocricy of these reporters telling the local public, ‘these are extremely dangerous conditions we’re experiencing, so if you haven’t evacuated, please remain indoors’. Call me a sadist, but I think I’d send Ted Turner or Roger Ailes a thank you card if I ever had the pleasure of seeing one of their on the scene reporters get clunked on the head by an errant, gale force wind-blown, garbage pail.

In my opinion, hurricanes are pretty much a local news story. Sure, people living in unaffected parts of the country want an idea of what’s going on, but do we really need continuous, around the clock coverage? This is just a hunch, but I assume most of the people who are going to be directly affected by a storm don’t have the time, the coaxial wiring or the electricity to watch these cable news channels in the first place.

What’s next? Are news executives that hard up for programming they’re going to start sending live reporters to farm fields in tornado alley? I got a good idea, if MSNBC wants to catch up in the ratings I suggest they open a few new bureau offices atop Mount Kilauea and along the San Andreas fault.

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But this is an important source of footage for “America’s Funniest Home Videos”! The show needs the occasional change of pace from the stream of videos featuring guys being hit in the crotch.

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That’s one of the two reasons I watch! The other is I’d love to see one of them get lifted off their feet and tossed a few hundred yards, and landing with a heafty bruised ego.

[Hurricane Ivan ]What’s the frequency, Anderson? [/HI]

4

Yes, this is why I watch! Nothing would be funnier than a reporter signing off with, “Gotta go!” while flying off screen.

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Are we in MPSIMS? That’s too bad becuz I have a relatively serious point to make, namely that I really hate all such coverage: every day, an ungodly number of people die because of one thing or another, and many more must llive out that day under far more harrowing circumstances than most hurricane “Victims.” Why must my TV devote near-exclusive attention to these people? Because the way theyr’e dying or suffering is a bit harder to cover than, say, every lymphoma sufferer in the world?

WGAF? GMAFB. etc.

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I got hit by Charley, just missed by Frances and was nervous about Ivan until it decided to miss SW Florida. And nothing about any of those storms was nearly as bothersome as the terms, “Hunker down” and “Feeder Bands.” My friends were ready to start playing the Charley drinking game. 1 drink for either of those terms, 2 drinks for “Storm surge”… yoiu get the idea.

By the way, if you’re planning to move to a hurricane area, move next door to a hospital. But don’t EVER tell your coworkers on their fifth day without power that you got yours back after 8 hours.

Oh, and hurricanes are a hoot when you rent and are salaried.

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This was covered in the Pit. Basically, for the local stations, they want to be The Station You Tune To for Breaking News.

I also question the wisdom of having a reporter standing on a beach after all the smart people have bugged out. How do they get past the police in a mandatory evacuation zone? “Me? No, I’m not a resident. But I’m a Perky Reporter Gal with a Microphone and a Hunky Camera Guy. Let me report live on this palm tree that’s blown down.”

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I had to deal with the around the clock coverage on the local news and radio for Charley and Frances. Frankly, it’s overkill. They just give the same reports over and over. I think it increases people’s anxiety to have it shown constantly. I was without power for 36 hours during Frances so all I had was a radio and I was tired of listening to news but I could not find a radio station that was playing music, except for the elevator music channel and that would have pushed me right over the edge. They should limit coverage to hourly reports and then scroll info like emergency numbers and school closings across the bottom.

As for the idiots in the storm, it’s really hard to take anyone seriously when they tell you to get to safety and they stand out in the middle of a category 4 storm. One reporter commented during Frances that they wouldn’t have been out there if it were a category 5, well yeah that’s because their ass would have blown away.
This “Kids, don’t do this at home! We’re professionals.” bit is stupid. Really, do they have you stand in wind tunnels at reporter school and teach you how to stand up and hold your microphone in 140 mph winds? Does the title of “professional reporter” grant you some sort of force field that keeps wind blown roofs and street signs from smacking you upside the head? No, it’s only sheer dumb luck that portects them and someday it will run out. But at least they’ll probably make the national news.

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Dan Rather is to blame. He “made his bones” covering a hurricane in Texas back in the 60s. That got him national attention and the rest is quasi-history.

So everyone with a cam and a satellite uplink thinks they can be the next Dan Rather.

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On the other hand, what else are you going to report on during a hurricane? “Well Jim, the financial analysts are reporting mixed numbers on the textile markets…” doesnt sound all that relevant when your roof has just done an Elvis and left the building.

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On the other hand, what else are you going to report on during a hurricane? “Well Jim, the financial analysts are reporting mixed numbers on the textile markets…” doesnt sound all that relevant when your roof has just done an Elvis and left the building.

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“This is Fran Rankin reporting to you from the intersection of Second and Willow, where fellow News 7 Team Member John Montgomery has just fallen to the ground after being hit on the head with a flying two by four. John, what can you tell us about the situation here?”

John: “unh…mmmmmrph … grunnnnnnnnh.”

Fran: “Thanks for that, John. We’ll be sure to check back with you later for more information. Meanwhile, as you can see there’s no shortage of debris flying around in these 120 mile per hour winds, but I’m told by our Storm Center Team that it couldn’t hit an elephant from this dist-”

::a piece of metal sheeting slices Fran’s head off her body. Blood goes splurting everywhere and her torso lands on John, who moans slightly.::

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On the other hand, what else are you going to report on during a hurricane? “Well Jim, the financial analysts are reporting mixed numbers on the textile markets…” doesnt sound all that relevant when your roof has just done an Elvis and left the building.

Now that we’ve been through Charley and Frances down here on the peninsula, I’m getting a little fatigued with the post-disaster reports. I can see plenty of hurricane debris all over the ground around my county. I don’t need to see aerial imagery of it on the news as well. Also, I have to look at post-Charley aerial imagery and take some damage photos in the field for my job, too. AND the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA took over our lobby right after Charley. They’re there all the time except for when another hurricane comes through. Then it’s just a quick sign: “FEMA has evacuated until after storm.” Sure fills you with confidence.

And it always looks like every other hurricane damage footage. And tornado damage as well. The difference with tornado shots is that there’s usually not as much difference between the “before” and “after” pictures down at the trailer park.

But if this is all I have to complain about, then I’ll remember to keep it to myself when my coworkers without houses are around.

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Sorry about the double post.

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Actually I considered watching Ivan whip Geraldo Rivera’s ass around like a rented mule to fall smack dab into the Classic Wholesome Entertainment category.

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Not true. Anderson Cooper just showed us tape showing he was giving his reports with a rope tied to his leg to keep him from being blown away.

(So “dumb luck” is only half right.)

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What he did specifically is very interesting, but he wasn’t broadcasting from the middle of the hurricane. I remember reading it in his first book, but it’s been a while.
He was working for a small local station when Camille blew in, wasting everything in it’s path. There were no satellite pics then and nobody had ever seen what a hurricane looked like. The weather and news crew were huddled over a radar screen showing Camille approaching the coast, and it was bigger than anyone imagined. They wanted to somehow convey this image to a still unsuspecting public. Dan Rather asked the camera man if he could get a shot of the radar image of the storm superimposed over the coastline map. I don’t remember how they did it or how good it looked, but it was the first time ever, that the people could actually see what was about to hit them. Phenomenal for its time. He had a network job within a week.

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There is other news in the world that isn’t that boring. Did Clinton survive his heart surgery? How many more soldiers died in Iraq? What’s going on with the aftermath of the Russian school massacre?

I felt very isolated as it was, then add to the fact I just keep hearing the same local news over and over. The local radio stations simulcast the local TV news so most of the reports were “look at those waves!”, “Look at the size of that storm!”, “Look at this video of the roof blowing of a building that we’ve shown 39 times now!”. Maybe I should have listened to the elevator music?

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A lot of wind and rain, Bob.

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When I’m in the middle of a class 4 hurricane, All. other. news. is. boring. Did Clinton survive his surgery? I didn’t care. I was wondering, “Will Hypno-Toad survive this day?” How many died in Iraq was secondary to how many might die in my apartment. So I think what I posted earlier stands, and stands well.

I agree with the OP about the ridiculousness of standing out in the wind to show us the same view as our window. And I agree that the reporting is redundant. Music and entertainment might actually help the peace of mind of folks caught up in something they can’t do anything about. But if they’re gonna report some news, I can see why they would focus on the storm that’s tearing the state a new inlet.