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Those poor reporters

by Kay King
39 replies
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TV reporters after a storm are prepared to gasp and display shock and awe at storm damage - today they are having a rough time of it.

One in the NE is focusing on a lifeguard stand that was pushed off it's foundation (not destroyed - just moved a bit) but the prize goes to the young CNN reporter trying desperately to find something to report on.

She found one downed tree and went on and on about "just fell over - as you can see the wind hit the tree and knocked it down - it is laying on the ground". The urgency misses something when you realize the reporter is surrounded by a lot of standing trees and only ONE "fell over". That tree - and the "puddles of water in the road" gave her something to talk about

I was on the phone with a woman in New York yesterday morning and she was convinced the hurricane "will become stronger". I was trying to ease her fear by explaining the eye was on land so the storm would be weakening before it reached her - but she didn't believe me.

I'm sure some areas did have serious damage - but I'm happy to see there wasn't the widespread destruction that people expected.

kay
  • Profile picture of the author robobobo
    Well if you're a reporter and your boss sends you out to get some footage of a big news story, you have to find it somewhere if you want to keep your job! Even if it's just a single tree falling over
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  • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
    What was that "Citizen Kane" said? -

    "You provide the prose - I'll provide the War"...?

    Gee - there must be a ton of overturned umbrellas someone could focus on...:rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    There were meteorologists that were saying the whole thing was being overblown while others were reporting it could cause damage of "Biblical proportion," to quote one of them. I guess I learned which ones to listen to from here on.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      There were meteorologists that were saying the whole thing was being overblown while others were reporting it could cause damage of "Biblical proportion," to quote one of them. I guess I learned which ones to listen to from here on.
      At least 2 candidates have said it was an act of god!

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        You will find many people who think the terms "act of nature" and "act of God" are the same thing. Others will say anything to get their quote on the news

        My Grandmother often used the term "act of God" and I heard it from others when was I growing up. It was used to describe a natural event that was out of man's control. If someone says it today we are quick fo say "religious nut" but it may be only a turn of phrase.
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        • Profile picture of the author waterotter
          Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

          You will find many people who think the terms "act of nature" and "act of God" are the same thing. Others will say anything to get their quote on the news

          My Grandmother often used the term "act of God" and I heard it from others when was I growing up. It was used to describe a natural event that was out of man's control. If someone says it today we are quick fo say "religious nut" but it may be only a turn of phrase.
          As a child, I often recall folks saying "the Gods are angry" or "the Gods must be angry" when there was a severe storm of any kind.

          To this day, when I hear the loud rumblings of thunder, I catch myself saying the same thing. Guess I think someone is a little ticked off with global warming.
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          • Profile picture of the author vampiro
            Originally Posted by waterotter View Post

            To this day, when I hear the loud rumblings of thunder, I catch myself saying the same thing. Guess I think someone is a little ticked off with global warming.
            This is the penal punishment of nature for the mankind's madness that destroy nature...
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        • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
          Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

          At least 2 candidates have said it was an act of god!
          Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

          You will find many people who think the terms "act of nature" and "act of God" are the same thing.
          In Iowa, where I grew up, insurance policies used to use the term "act of God" in defining coverage (usually limitations). Don't know if they still do (I would guess not), I haven't lived there for decades.

          Ken, if I was that reporter I'd be in the shower for days, or weeks, maybe months!
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          • Profile picture of the author Kevin AKA Hubcap
            Many insurance policies still have an "act of god" phrase which usually relates to unforeseen events.

            An over the top example would be an alien spacecraft landing in your driveway on top of your. Because different policies have different definitions for what constitutes an "Act of God" and more importantly what doesn't it's important to know what coverage you actually have.

            As far a I can tell what the candidate said has nothing to do with the storm as an act of nature/God but rather as a tool to score political points.

            This isn't an exact quote rather a paraphrase

            'the candidate said Hurricane Irene was God's way of telling politicians to cut spending, fix the budget deficit, and return jobs to the country'

            I'm sure it was said with "tongue firmly implanted in cheek" but you never know because the same candidate promised $2.00 a gallon gas if elected.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeAmbrosio
    My mother in law is fixated on weather, so she's been watching all the reports on this one since yesterday. She told me one reporter was actually tethered to something because of the strong wind, reporting how tough it was standing out there while reporting. When of course, right around that moment a couple of joggers ran by in the background, waving at the camera.

    I wish I'd seen that one
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    • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
      Originally Posted by MikeAmbrosio View Post

      My mother in law is fixated on weather, so she's been watching all the reports on this one since yesterday. She told me one reporter was actually tethered to something because of the strong wind, reporting how tough it was standing out there while reporting. When of course, right around that moment a couple of joggers ran by in the background, waving at the camera.

      I wish I'd seen that one
      Classic!

      Is it any wonder fewer and fewer people trust main stream news anymore? It's become a shameful profession. Paid parrots and sideshow magicians.
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

        Classic!

        Is it any wonder fewer and fewer people trust main stream news anymore? It's become a shameful profession. Paid parrots and sideshow magicians.
        Yeah, one of the oldest tricks in the book is known as chromakey, blue screen, or green screen! Actually, the SAME idea is used in websites today, with formats such as GIF! It still works pretty well. But it allows objects to be merged so that they appear to be together when they aren't. It is used by weather men ALL THE TIME to show the weather on animations, why not make it appear like real life?

        Steve
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        • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
          Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

          Yeah, one of the oldest tricks in the book is known as chromakey, blue screen, or green screen! Actually, the SAME idea is used in websites today, with formats such as GIF! It still works pretty well. But it allows objects to be merged so that they appear to be together when they aren't. It is used by weather men ALL THE TIME to show the weather on animations, why not make it appear like real life?

          Steve
          Steve, I'm not sure if your "why not" was tongue in cheek or serious, but if it was serious, the "why not" is because it's a lie, of course. It wasn't green screen though. It was a reporter on scene trying to make the storm seem terrible when it was nothing at all like she was reporting.
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          • Profile picture of the author seasoned
            Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

            Steve, I'm not sure if your "why not" was tongue in cheek or serious, but if it was serious, the "why not" is because it's a lie, of course. It wasn't green screen though. It was a reporter on scene trying to make the storm seem terrible when it was nothing at all like she was reporting.
            Well, I was NOT suggesting that it be done. I guess it is better safe than sorry, people HAVE died, there HAS been property damage, people ARE without power, places HAVE been flooded. But NOBODY should try to make it look worse than it is when they find out how it is. I got an extra 2 days off, and can maybe get my house prepared for worse times.

            Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Thomas Wilkinson
    Any one old enough to remember how Dan Rather got his first
    national exposure. He tied himself to a tree and reported on a
    hurricane in the middle of a 100 mile an hour wind. It was the
    first time that was ever shown on national TV and started a long
    tradition of reporters in storms.

    Thomas
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  • Profile picture of the author mongsky
    it was probably a big tree, so it can be considered a big news

    most news network now a days, broadcast for profit,
    the most hot item and the most "in" are the ones that they are focused on,
    sometimes, they want to broadcast the negative aspect of the situation, destruction, damage, death.
    why can't there be any "Good News"
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Last time I looked, news was categorized as entertainment. Guess there's a reason for that one. I wonder how many people are writing to news channels that were sensationalizing the storm to tell the reporters how completely asinine they look. I wonder how long these idiots could get reams of letters laughing in their faces before they either snapped and put out some good news or just walked off the set when they knew they were going to look like baffoons.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      Last time I looked, news was categorized as entertainment. Guess there's a reason for that one. I wonder how many people are writing to news channels that were sensationalizing the storm to tell the reporters how completely asinine they look. I wonder how long these idiots could get reams of letters laughing in their faces before they either snapped and put out some good news or just walked off the set when they knew they were going to look like baffoons.
      YEAH, it's scary! ICSM!

      The ONLY thing they care about is how they look, contacts, and the PAYCHECK!

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author HeySal
        Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

        YEAH, it's scary! ICSM!

        The ONLY thing they care about is how they look, contacts, and the PAYCHECK!

        Steve
        Can't fault them for wanting paychecks and a glamorous job. Can fault them highly for their lack in ethics in reporting. I know people have been sending a lot of very angry letters to news media over the last few years about some of their reporting skills and habits.

        Anger doesn't work, obviously. I'm just wondering if we just start responding to the "news" as it has now been classified and sending letters absolutely guffawing over their idiocy if that would be enough to finally raise an intelligent reaction in the clowns.
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        • Profile picture of the author dbarnum
          So the moral of the story is this:

          if a tree falls in the middle of a forest and lands in a puddle, and there is no one around to hear it, it does indeed make a splash, a very big splash.






          Glad people there are getting to head back to their daily lives today, and the storm wasn't quite as bad as first predicted.
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        • Profile picture of the author seasoned
          Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

          intelligent reaction in the clowns.
          But clowns are USUALLY hired to NOT react intelligently!
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  • Profile picture of the author waterotter
    CNN just aired footage of a five year old girl giving ireports/weather updates.

    She says "this will be my last update for the day so stay inside or you'll blow away". Too cute!
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeAmbrosio
    So, in New York City, before the storm "landed", they made some decisions based on the reports they were getting and what they were expecting to see from this storm.

    So, they shut down mass transit, evacuated certain areas, etc. Just in case.

    The storm comes and did not bring the carnage expected so all that day the news reported mostly on how P.O.'d people were for the city's "knee-jerk" reaction in shutting down mass transit, evacuating certain areas,etc.

    Of course, if they did NOT do that and the storm brought the predicted carnage, these same folks would be railing about the city's "lack of response to an obvious situation..."

    I love this stuff
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    • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
      Originally Posted by MikeAmbrosio View Post

      So, in New York City, before the storm "landed", they made some decisions based on the reports they were getting and what they were expecting to see from this storm.

      So, they shut down mass transit, evacuated certain areas, etc. Just in case.

      The storm comes and did not bring the carnage expected so all that day the news reported mostly on how P.O.'d people were for the city's "knee-jerk" reaction in shutting down mass transit, evacuating certain areas,etc.

      Of course, if they did NOT do that and the storm brought the predicted carnage, these same folks would be railing about the city's "lack of response to an obvious situation..."

      I love this stuff
      Mike, there may not have been as many P.O'd people if there weren't a lot of meteorologists saying it was being overhyped. In a way, this was a media created event (not the storm, the panic). From what I saw, they emphasized all the worst reports and ignored the rest. I think the media lost some credibility on this one.

      But yeah, interesting to watch.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeAmbrosio
        Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

        Mike, there may not have been as many P.O'd people if there weren't a lot of meteorologists saying it was being overhyped. In a way, this was a media created event (not the storm, the panic). From what I saw, they emphasized all the worst reports and ignored the rest. I think the media lost some credibility on this one.

        But yeah, interesting to watch.

        I agree. And I would also say that there probably weren't as many P.O.'d people as they say, but made it seem so because there was no other "devastating aftermath" news to report.

        News-entertainment has a way of creating news out of nothing - much the way the drug companies invent ailments for the drugs they produce
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  • Profile picture of the author Thomas Wilkinson
    I wonder if the families of the 35 people who died think the media did a bad job. There is major flooding in at least ten states. Homes are destroyed, businesses ruined. Irene was no Katrina but to those whose lives have been changed it is no less important. Have we become such disaster junkies that each one must be bigger an badder than the last before it merits our attention.

    Thomas
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeAmbrosio
      Originally Posted by Thomas Wilkinson View Post

      I wonder if the families of the 35 people who died think the media did a bad job. There is major flooding in at least ten states. Homes are destroyed, businesses ruined. Irene was no Katrina but to those whose lives have been changed it is no less important. Have we become such disaster junkies that each one must be bigger an badder than the last before it merits our attention.

      Thomas

      Another aftermath of these news shows. It creates so much hype out of nothing that the real news gets buried. And yet another reason I ignore most of these shows - ESPECIALLY during times like these. Our local news show did a better job of actual coverage - of our area - than the other shows did.

      I won't say all of them are bad, or whatever. But I simply got tired of trying to sift through the garbage to get to the real stuff.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Thomas - I so agree. It seems before the storms the media and pols are almost excited at their own predictions of dire consequences. Guess that's part of the business they're in.

      Afterward we're quick to point out the flaws. To someone who was harmed or lost a loved one, Irene was a true disaster. We should be happy more people were not harmed and hopefully the media will turn to reporting the facts of the damage that was caused instead of looking for damage in preferred areas.

      Part of the bad reporting may be the 24 hr news cycle and a public that demands instant notification. There are probably people in the area where the storm's damage was the worst who don't know the full extent of the damage because communications are disrupted.

      kay
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Thomas, fair points, but everything is relative. The news media used terms like "floods of Biblical proportions" and other over the top hype. Then you had the reporter who was reporting live outdoors saying something about the wind being so strong she could barely stand in it to report, then two joggers passed behind her waving and having no trouble with the wind.

    In places the reporting was responsible, and in other places the media was manufacturing news, IMO.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jagged
    I'm still cracking up seeing this reporter covered in what he thought was sea foam but later finds out it's really raw sewage.....he says it has a sandy taste to it....LOL


    part 1:
    http://youtu.be/9qRJeIhW89s

    part 2:
    http://youtu.be/oxgQBiKe6qE
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      That is freakin hilarious....he says at one point "it's up to my knees". A new version of knee-deep in sh**?

      That's one of those things you never live down....
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    There's way too much hype in storm reporting - and frankly, it can be deadly to hype storms. So this storm was described as having "biblical proportions". A few people were killed, many homes and businesses trashed, but all in all not that big of a storm. So what happens if they keep hyping every storm that comes near us and they aren't all that bad when they hit?

    Ever hear of crying wolf? Reporters who hype a storm just for ratings will end up with blood on their hands when the big one really comes trucking though and everyone ignores the warnings because it's just more media bull sh**.

    At least with earthquakes all they can do is make it sound worse than it really was. They can't endanger anyone by numbing them out to future warnings.
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    • Profile picture of the author Roaddog
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      There's way too much hype in storm reporting - and frankly, it can be deadly to hype storms. So this storm was described as having "biblical proportions". A few people were killed, many homes and businesses trashed, but all in all not that big of a storm. So what happens if they keep hyping every storm that comes near us and they aren't all that bad when they hit?

      Ever hear of crying wolf? Reporters who hype a storm just for ratings will end up with blood on their hands when the big one really comes trucking though and everyone ignores the warnings because it's just more media bull sh**.

      At least with earthquakes all they can do is make it sound worse than it really was. They can't endanger anyone by numbing them out to future warnings.

      I was going to post "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" analogy earlier Sal.

      It's a good one....that I try and get thru to my youngest all the time.

      You could almost 'see' the strain to dramatize this particular story, like never before.
      Although my condolences go out to people who lost love ones and property because of the storm.

      That 'sea foam' story cracks me up because I believe it was Fox that ran that nationally, as well as that local story, and the 10 year old told me "that doesn't look like sea foam, Dad".

      When I looked at the TV, I knew it wasn't either.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    For the record... Insurance uses Act of God to illustrate that it is BAD, couldn't be much worse, and it was his will.

    I used act of God above because that was what THEY said, and they did it to say that God was angry, and this was a taste of his wrath. This is NOT a religious statement, simply a repeat of what they said to show how some have spoken. One candidate says she was KIDDING.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      For the record... Insurance uses Act of God to illustrate that it is BAD, couldn't be much worse, and it was his will.


      Steve
      Act of God is used to indicate that an event was an act of nature and out of anyone's control to prevent, and most likely unexpected.

      You refuse to evacuate when told to for a flood and your car gets destroyed - it's your fault. You get hit by a flash flood and it's an Act of God.

      There is no religious intent to the terminology, it is merely a reference to indicate the person making the claim cannot be held responsible for the loss in any way.

      That's probably what you were trying to say, Steve - but you speak mathematician and sometimes need some interpreting. . Not sure why, but people who are really adept at mathematic logistics can be really hard to follow verbally sometimes.
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

        Act of God is used to indicate that an event was an act of nature and out of anyone's control to prevent, and most likely unexpected.

        You refuse to evacuate when told to for a flood and your car gets destroyed - it's your fault. You get hit by a flash flood and it's an Act of God.

        There is no religious intent to the terminology, it is merely a reference to indicate the person making the claim cannot be held responsible for the loss in any way.

        That's probably what you were trying to say, Steve - but you speak mathematician and sometimes need some interpreting. . Not sure why, but people who are really adept at mathematic logistics can be really hard to follow verbally sometimes.
        Yeah, that IS what I was trying to say. It probably once DID have a definite religious context. Today, just effectively one.

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author dagaul101
    It's good there wasn't the widespread destruction we all feared, but you are right, it seems the news outlets are looking for that horrendous disaster to keep viewers entrenched
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  • Profile picture of the author M A Kay
    Let's be proud to our reporters..they take a risk and sacrifice their lives just to fulfill their jobs..
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