High-octane hurricane reporting becoming a joke
As if television news isn’t bad enough, we have to deal with
bad reporting to the max during hurricane season.
During the most recent monster storm that was Hurricane Katrina, network
television reporters and so-called “weather experts” were seen parading down the
streets of New Orleans and Biloxi, with their bodies pressed against the 100
mile-per-hour winds ducking leaves and debris.
In one such instance, a reporter and his cameraman, who was several steps ahead
of the reporter, left the safe confines of a hotel they were in and careened
into the streets to show people what it was like to walk around in
hurricane-force winds. At one point, the reporter ducked behind a large mailbox,
pulled off a piece of metal, then proceeded to toss it into the street to show
viewers how strong the wind really was.
Aside from being partially insane and obviously dangerous, this death-defying
stunt didn’t reinforce the idea that people needed to stay in a safe place, away
from the harsh weather of a hurricane. The reporter was all but encouraging
people to take to the streets to witness the hellish winds for themselves.
Obviously, network television will be report the news of a hurricane, and some
of that is legitimate. People need to be updated on things such as road
closures, evacuations, storm shelters and emergency response. But to see
adrenaline-junky reporters stand in the path of destruction doesn’t seem the
least bit necessary.
It is actually a cruel idea that a news director would ask a reporter to leave
shelter and get a shot of a coffee shop getting impaled by a Honda Civic. But in
today’s media market that kind of hardcore, action news shot is one that will
keep people glued to their televisions and keep the ratings through the roof.
Of course, that doesn’t make it right, and it misses the point of ethical
reporting altogether. Television news has the power to reach more people than
any other medium offered, but it is something that has been abused as of late by
bad reporting and off-topic subjects.
The people need to be informed, not shocked.
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