Via: Tuned In
One of the strange impulses of modern life is the irresistible–to me, anyway–urge to turn on the TV and the laptop and spend all day watching coverage of a weather disaster that you are already in the middle of experiencing. I spent yesterday in Brooklyn watching the same hurricane that was blowing outside my window, for practical reasons–to see the storm track, get reports of damage in the city–but also, I think, for the comforting illusion that knowing everything possible about the storm meant that I was in control. If Sandy’s data and destruction could be confined on the rectangles of my TV screen and iPad, then it was, in some way, under control. It wasn’t, of course, even in the control rooms. The coverage of Sandy, which crowded out primetime programming in affected areas, was riveting and impressive, but also chaotic the way a breaking story like this inevitably is: lots of useful information and some misinformation, bravery and stunts. In particular, Sandy proved that the old bad-weather standby, sticking a reporter in the middle of a hurricane to get blown around like a dancing air-balloon man in front of a car wash, never gets old. CNN had several reporters in the field, but the piñata of the day was financial reporter Ali Velshi, who was plopped down in a windblown Atlantic City intersection and stayed there all day: as the winds rose, as it grew dark, finally as he was in rushing water up to his thighs. If he is not still there a month from now, interviewing economists about the latest job figures, I will be sorely disappointed. Why do it? Velshi offered an explanation on air: “People are saying why are you out there? Well, one is we’re trying yo show people what happens, but number two, we’ve had a bit of experience with this so we know how to seek shelter.” Number three: the other guy is doing it: on The Weather Channel, Al Roker was getting put through the spin cycle on the beach
Read full story at: Tuned In
Posted: October 30th, 2012
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