Weather

What is it with local news station and their holy men, their seers or more widely known as - weathermen. Watch the local news and they slowly feed you out a bit of weather news here and there always with the promise.. stay tuned and we'll show the radar, tommorow's forecast, next week's outlook, pollen count, etc. Meanwhile you put up with these talking heads regurgitating “unnewsworthy” items off the teleprompter. Local “news”, now that's a whole blog in itself. I'll leave that one for later. But to keep their viewing audience, who obviously are only interested in the only real local news which is the weather, they tease them with “more weather coming up”. Total bullshit. I refuse to watch local news because of this. And to boot they treat these weathermen as some kind of dieties, like we be lost souls without their knowledge. I got news for you, most of these turds who call themselves metrologists are your future anchormen. This is just a step on the ladder for them. All weather data is gathered from the AMS and the station's local radar image. It's then formatted into colorful displays and animated talk to help sell the weather spot. I dare any local news station to not have a weather spot but instead before the commercial break and for 5 seconds after the break, display these 3 images - local radar image, national radar and the 5 day forecast. Anyone can read a radar map, red means bad, yellow means soccer practice may get cancelled and green means close the kitchen window. Duh!? You don't need a pretty boy with a bunch of meterology titles which can be purchased anywhere (did you know anyone can be member of the American Metrological Society?) to tell us this. I also challenge local news to deliver balanced news. For every murder, fire, car accident, include something positive like a local hero story, interview the family of someone who just recovered from a successful heart operation, interview the lottery winners, play a clip from the most popular local song or movie. Shit there's so much more they could do to make the local news something people would enjoy watching and feel more apart of the city instead of waiting for the fricking weather.
Published Mon, Apr 25 2005 12:02 PM by craigg75
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Comments

 

# re: Weather

Monday, April 25, 2005 1:47 PM by fractalnavel
jeezus, hide the automatic weapons ;-)

well, ok, that's an interesting question there at the end: what _is_ the purpose of local news ? you mention two things: entertainment ("enjoyment"), and community building. you also bring the classic good news / bad news balance and sensationalism complaints. it seems what you describe is more like a "news magazine".

the main point you make about the annoyance factor of the practice of teasers and feigned suspense is on target. it's used in much of media today. now, even in fiction it's a pretty stupid plot device. tells you something about the perceptions of the audience, and through that, the perceivers and the perceived.

these practices have no place in purported "news" media. if you've got info, spill it. but mostly, there really isn't any local news. i remember the days when national news was what took center stage. now most stations carry only half hour evening program. and _international_ news in the u.s. ? what a joke.

no, i don't watch local news, there's no point. even the local newspapers suck. is this partly the fault of media consolidations ?

now with the big three network anchors gone the talking heads are reduced to perspectiveless automatons. one noticeable result was that coverage of the papal transition stunk to high heaven (punn intended).

and to me, that disappearance pinged my radar a little. too damned convenient.

finally, i understand you were in disgruntled postman mode, but a lot of weathermen do have respectable educations. they are far better than their anchormen compatriots. not all, though, and i'm not familiar with your local tv scene, so it sounds like you're saddled with the poseurs, not the real things. the problem is what you point out: today's automation make the need for educated weathermen obsolete. just hook up the programs and go. it wasn't like this not too long ago. ever see the weather info they used to get ? but those days are gone.

the sad fact is that these programs are responding to their audience. your real gripe is with your neighbors, and the culture that they've built for themselves and are adamant in protecting. why are you watching these shows anyway ?
 

# re: Weather

Monday, April 25, 2005 3:00 PM by Craig
Another indication of the general decay of western civilization...

I end up watching it as a compromise with Annette. She likes the news at 10, I don't obviously. We watch Futurama one night, the news the next. Because of this I've noticed what an incredible joke the local news is.
 

# re: Weather

Monday, April 25, 2005 4:16 PM by fractalnavel
hmm, girlfriends and weblogs. i've always wondered if / when to tell someone being dated about one's blog.

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