The first rule of hurricane coverage is that every broadcast must begin with palm trees bending in the wind. ---Carl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen is a journalist and novelist, having spent most of his life in south Florida...and is thoroughly well-versed concerning hurricanes and the media's coverage of them. I've read that he still writes a regular column for the Miami Herald...I wonder what's he's been saying of late about the media's coverage of Hurricane Irma...
The other day Florida's governor, Rick Scott, declared a statewide emergency after it became clear that very dangerous Hurricane Irma would in all likelihood strike Florida head-on and affect the entire state. When I discovered this I turned the channel to the Weather Channel for the latest information, only to discover that they were airing an hour-long prerecorded show about tornadoes. So let me get this straight: a terrible hurricane (that is "weather", right?) is intensifying to unheard of levels for one coming in from across the Atlantic, and it is about to strike populated areas in the West Indies and Puerto Rico before severely affecting the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba...and eventually the heavily-populated Miami area of Florida...and the Weather Channel is floating around in la-la land. Okay, I got it...and switched to a mainstream cable news channel to get my update on Irma. Eventually, the Weather Channel got the message and now seems to be seriously covering Irma...but the weekend draws near and I wonder whether they'll go back to their unwelcome and untimely prerecorded programs...
As for Mr. Hiaasen's quote, I've noticed how eagerly different "weather" reporters go out on their assignments, especially on the beach, and pretend to be roughing it up for the sake of us viewers. In almost every case, there is at least one instance of such a reporter acting as if he or she is in some kind of dire peril just standing there...and then behind them you see people carrying on as usual, like a mother pushing her baby in a stroller or a couple of kids playing Frisbee. Last year when Hurricane Matthew threatened the Florida east coast it was almost comical turning on the TV seeing different reports strategically stationed up and down the coast, putting on the "struggling against the elements" act. But this can get to be foolhardy as well: I've seen one such on-the-scene reporter standing out in the midst of an ongoing tropical storm get blown off her feet one time while flying debris hit a correspondent in another incident. So I'd like to add a second rule to Carl Hiaasen's first rule of hurricane coverage: string out reporters on various beaches and show them wallowing around in the turmoil, real or imagined...oh yeah, and when it's the Weather Channel, expect to be continually reminded that the folks out there are all official meteorologists...
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