29.8.05

Hurricane Katrina on the news

What is it with news and hurricanes? I went into work today and the TV in the break room was tuned to the news, showing continuous footage of various reporters, bent almost double in the wind, soaked to the skin, screaming to be heard over the roaring wind.

Why?

Does it add to the veracity of the report? Is it some kind of Me-Big-Man contest? Which complete bloody moron came up with the stupid idea of putting reporters in places that sensible people have either left or are currently a good fifty feet underground?

That cameraman was in an SUV. That's the cherry on the top of this dumb cake. Sitting in the dry filming the horizontal reporter giving his barely-legible report through a closed window. A window, by the way, which was streaked with rain, not exactly aiding visibility. Why not let the bloody reporter sit in the car, too? Is it really that important that the reporter get out there in the middle of the storm?

And, think on this: These people are the people who most of America relies on to tell them what's going on in the world. We have a saying where I come from about people who are too dumb to get in out of the rain.

No comments: