Article: Why TV news is addicted to weather porn

[FLPanhandle]

A good article about our corporate media and storm coverage...

http://www.salon.com/news/media_criticism/?story=/ent/tv/2011/08/29/weather_porn

In case you thought the TV news business wasn't well aware that it thrives on fear, a local anchor confirmed it during Hurricane Irene coverage yesterday morning. Chuck Scarborough, the anchor of local New York affiliate WNBC, was talking about the importance of evacuating the coastal Manhattan neighborhood of Battery Park City even though, by that point in the Irene narrative, it was clear that the storm wasn't going to hit the city as hard as some experts originally thought. When Scarborough finished talking, his guest, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, joked, "I thought I was just listening to the Oracle of Doom."

"We're in the news business," Scarborough said wryly. "We deal in doom."

Most catastrophic events strike unexpectedly and get reported on after-the-fact, when afflicted citizens and government workers are literally picking up pieces and news organizations are mainly concerned with finding out precisely what happened. Storms are all about what might happen -- a narrative of dread that unfolds over a period of days. It's a perfect setup that lets TV news organizations ratchet up the freak-out factor incrementally, and position their teams where they think the most spectacular and terrifying images might be.

Even when TV news organizations can plausibly claim to be doing everything according to the unwritten Good Media Citizen Handbook -- constantly repeating safety tips and evacuation schedules, referring viewers to the web sites of the National Weather Service and the Hurricane Center, and so forth -- the overall tenor of the coverage still edges toward fear-mongering and surreal slapstick.



Please note: This is not a complaint about NOAA or government scientists who provided accurate and realistic forecasts; nor is it saying the government officials over reacted. This is all out corporations making money by scaring people.

[BlueCaliDem]

1. Fear is the best tool for Powers That Be to control the unwashed masses

and those Powers That Be are our corporate media.

[FLPanhandle]

5. Worse: They've got some convinced it's good they scare us

I guess because we are children and can't be trusted with real information.

[Broderick]

2. This is what happens when PROFIT

is the primary motive for reporting "news" and "events".

[Broderick]

3. DUPE

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Because the pictures are more interesting than boring ole prose.

[immoderate]

6. NEED ... MORE ... *CONTENT!*

Got to fill those channels with something. And this is not a re-run.

--imm

[ChandlerJr]

7. Well, that explains the TV's preoccupation, what explains

the hundreds of posts, often from people thousands of miles from the "action", on some discussion boards?

[smokey nj]

11. They're disaster pervs who get off on death and destruction.

[unionworks]

8. Delta Force...

...kicked Irene's azz...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yOEOJ1BARk

[KurtNYC]

9. It was sad to see the BBC joining in the fear fest

Having their reporter stand knee deep in water and announcing that it was only up to her boots earlier (at low tide). And calling the tropical storm a "hurricane."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14699651

[FLPanhandle]

12. The BBC still is a great source for news.

Alas, they aren't immune to the TV weather porn lure.

[SacoMaine61]

10. Great example of overblown

The headline to this video reads "Matt Zidle gets pounded by waves"

http://www.wmtw.com/video/29005258/detail.html

A light spritzing is more like it...