Bad Storms/Worse Coverage

[rokdog49]

Over the last couple of days there were some serious storms in a variety of locations, particularly in the Midwest. Here in Ohio we had a path stretching from Toledo on a diagonal line southwestward to Columbus and a bit beyond.
Just south of where I live, there were two tornados confirmed. Where my son lives, which is rural it was really bad. It has now been determined they had a tornado. He still has trees on his house and only yesterday was he able to get out of his driveway. There were other areas including Wayne and Holmes County that reported tornadoes with severe damage and destruction. In nearby Butler County, ten thousand are still without power and in the entire state, well over one hundred thousand.

Now for the national coverage.
The national media had reports of a few places in the Midwest, but barely a whisper about what happened here in Ohio.
Here’s the kicker. There was plenty of video from private citizens posted over You Tube of what was transpiring as it happened.
I am convinced the national media lives in a shell and has absolutely no idea how in cases like this, the public knows more of what’s going on than they are reporting. I really believe they disregard the internet and think they have dominance over public communication and reporting.
Either that or they are pretending there is no “elephant in the room”.

BTW, this also applies to world events and everything else.
It’s the reason I quit watching the national news.

Rant over.

[619TF]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Over the last couple of days there were some serious storms in a variety of locations, particularly in the Midwest. Here in Ohio we had a path stretching from Toledo on a diagonal line southwestward to Columbus and a bit beyond.
Just south of where I live, there were two tornados confirmed. Where my son lives, which is rural it was really bad. It has now been determined they had a tornado. He still has trees on his house and only yesterday was he able to get out of his driveway. There were other areas including Wayne and Holmes County that reported tornadoes with severe damage and destruction. In nearby Butler County, ten thousand are still without power and in the entire state, well over one hundred thousand.

Now for the national coverage.
The national media had reports of a few places in the Midwest, but barely a whisper about what happened here in Ohio.
Here’s the kicker. There was plenty of video from private citizens posted over You Tube of what was transpiring as it happened.
I am convinced the national media lives in a shell and has absolutely no idea how in cases like this, the public knows more of what’s going on than they are reporting. I really believe they disregard the internet and think they have dominance over public communication and reporting.
Either that or they are pretending there is no “elephant in the room”.

BTW, this also applies to world events and everything else.
It’s the reason I quit watching the national news.

Rant over.

Was anyone killed? That usually gets the "newspeople" out. If not then I'd have to say this wasn't really a big "National" story. A few hundred thousand people without power could be a few City blocks in some areas of the country. National news tends to focus on International stories and the bigger events you don't hear much about on local coverage. And local coverage is what they say it is (local). As far as the internet and YouTube dictating what is going on in the world...far from truth as just a few videos can make things look a lot more more widespread than they might be. In addition, these "citizen journalists" are doing local folks a favor in some ways by covering things as they happen that are of interest to those in a particular area that even the local news might miss. I guess the summary of this is that each place has its' audience and while there may be some overlap the fact is that it's been designed that way. You can ignore the national (and/or local) news but you're missing out on a certain amount of stories that likely effect your life.

[Bob Womack]

I can commiserate. I live in the center of "Hurricane Alley" on the U.S. Mid-Atlantic coast, specifically in the Virginia Tidewater. For some reason it is a null zone for news coverage. Hurricanes that hit here but are ten inches below our center line get coverage as threats to the "Outer Banks." Hurricanes that hit here but are ten inches above our center line get coverage as threats to "Washington D.C." You'll rarely see us in the news, even if the hurricane plows right through us, flooding streets and leaving people powerless for weeks.

Bob

[RedJoker]

I'm also in Ohio and I feel the same way about hurricanes. We hear about them but unless they are crazy big and cause a lot of death and destruction, it's not much more than sound bite. Having said that, I'm not sure why I would need it to be more than that. What would I do with that information?

[imwjl]

My daily news - none of it TV - covered the storms in upper Midwest or central US. I can also see how other things were more front page. We have the unusual and waited for interest rates change, historic floods in some places, some states just had elections.

Drilling into regional news in my main sources - an aggregation subscription of papers and magazines, Wall St. Journal, NY Times and local papers gets news of the storms last night.

Last night has me feeling like a hangover. The way that band rolled past timed with an emergency patch in payment systems left our small grocery chain with 50% to 75% hampered or out of business at once. Power outages, telecom outages etc..... I'll call it good stress. We (IT) did our best for our precious staff and customers. I think the hangover feel is my being responsible for incidents that easily cost $10,000 to $50,000 in short order and can risk losing $ hundreds of thousands of food.

To be honest, criticizing news as bad in this era is silly. You can find quality for free. Our cloud news, WSJ and NYT subscriptions are all less than we used to pay for cable.

I think we all know a few popular food and beverage places are crappy yet fantastic food and beverage exists and is easy to find. It's no different with news.

[imwjl]

FYI.

Two of our local TV stations are owned by firms with a dozen+ or several dozen TV stations and newspapers. They have national network affiliations.

Right now our local www sites for them and their live video feeds are covering the storms. Hopping to their stations www sites east and west where last night's big line of storms came through show pretty much the same.

Hopping to the 1962 headlines for a same newspaper now in same ownership shows surprisingly similar headlines.

Also on the storms, and same as ever I see one of our area utilities is calling in help no different than past history.

[raysachs]

Well, unfortunately, storms like the one the OP describes are so frequent and so widespread in today's climate (not to mention in years to come), that they just aren't news beyond the local / regional area. If a small town gets wiped out or there are a lot of casualties from a weather event, it gets covered. Storms like that around here (Philly / New Jersey area) rarely get any mention either. There was a tornado a couple of years ago that pretty much flattened a pretty good sized suburban neighborhood, and that was a story for about a day, but we have tornados touch down and do a bit of damage pretty regularly that nobody outside of the local TV range would ever know about. A lot of pretty large fires out west are barely news anymore also. A few years ago, there was a lot of coverage when a few towns in California and souther Oregon were all but wiped out, but lately there's been less death and property damage from them (I guess a lot of the most vulnerable places have pretty much been razed?), so a lot less coverage.

I don't think this is so much a failing of national news - it's just changing circumstances that redefine what constitutes a major story.

-Ray

[ewalling]

Here in Miami, we seem to have the opposite: the news is catastrophe driven. You name it - war, death, road rage, the economy, gas, baby formula, COVID, car chases, toilet rolls, racial slurs, hurricane season, high temperatures, credit card scammers, and the list just goes on and on. Whatever morsel of disturbance they get becomes blown up so that we all remain in a state of simmering anxiety. This is all under the guise of keeping us informed, 'prepared' and safe.

There was a famous clip some years ago of a hurricane journalist using a canoe on a busy street when, unfortunately, some pedestrians were filmed walking behind her through a few inches of water. There was another of a journalist struggling to stay upright in gale force winds with passers-by similarly walking behind him normally.

So, it seems strange to hear of a part of the country where catastrophe is underplayed. Here, we are relentlessly bombarded by whatever pain and commotion is currently available by smiling, ever-loving news anchors with perfect teeth who hope we all have a wonderful day.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by 619TF

Was anyone killed? That usually gets the "newspeople" out. If not then I'd have to say this wasn't really a big "National" story. A few hundred thousand people without power could be a few City blocks in some areas of the country. National news tends to focus on International stories and the bigger events you don't hear much about on local coverage. And local coverage is what they say it is (local). As far as the internet and YouTube dictating what is going on in the world...far from truth as just a few videos can make things look a lot more more widespread than they might be. In addition, these "citizen journalists" are doing local folks a favor in some ways by covering things as they happen that are of interest to those in a particular area that even the local news might miss. I guess the summary of this is that each place has its' audience and while there may be some overlap the fact is that it's been designed that way. You can ignore the national (and/or local) news but you're missing out on a certain amount of stories that likely effect your life.

Im certainly missing out on all the useless stress I placed on myself by paying attention to 24/7 media. On that, you got me.

[619TF]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Im certainly missing out on all the useless stress I placed on myself by paying attention to 24/7 media. On that, you got me.

Yes, ignorance truly is bliss. That doesn't stop things happening in the world from effecting you though. You just won't know until it's too late. The key to less "useless stress" in news viewing/reading is understanding the biases of all the sources and realizing that, for example, the doom and gloom on last night's local news was simply a way to get ratings and much of it will have absolutely zero effect on my life or the people I care about. Besides, all stress comes from within and no amount of anything external (including news) should stress anyone. It's really all in how you interpret and understand life.

[skinnerb]

Why should tornadoes be national news? Would you like to know more about our record rains here in SW Washington state? Several roads have failed traffic accidents are up and local fruit crops are in doubt.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by 619TF

Yes, ignorance truly is bliss. That doesn't stop things happening in the world from effecting you though. You just won't know until it's too late. The key to less "useless stress" in news viewing/reading is understanding the biases of all the sources and realizing that, for example, the doom and gloom on last night's local news was simply a way to get ratings and much of it will have absolutely zero effect on my life or the people I care about. Besides, all stress comes from within and no amount of anything external (including news) should stress anyone. It's really all in how you interpret and understand life.

You make great points and I did point out that I am affected by events…just not the reporting, because I don’t pay much attention. That is a foreign concept for a lot of people.I am fully aware that my approach is often under attack and labels are assigned.
That’s ok, I am not swayed by what others place their values on and I don’t place any judgements on theirs.
Anyway, “Not knowing until it’s too late depends on your mindset. Too late for what?

In the end, not everyone is “equipped” to deal with the constant barrage of the 24/7 in your face media and keep their prospective. Even those who are, can be affected at times, we’re all only human.
My viewpoint has never been popularly embraced on this subject here on the forum but I know others in my personal circle who feel and act the same.
They quit paying attention as well. We’re just a happy little group of ignorant fools.

[619TF]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

You make great points and I did point out that I am affected by events…just not the reporting, because I don’t pay much attention. That is a foreign concept for a lot of people.I am fully aware that my approach is often under attack and labels are assigned.
That’s ok, I am not swayed by what others place their values on and I don’t place any judgements on theirs.
Anyway, “Not knowing until it’s too late depends on your mindset. Too late for what?

In the end, not everyone is “equipped” to deal with the constant barrage of the 24/7 in your face media and keep their prospective. Even those who are, can be affected at times, we’re all only human.
My viewpoint has never been popularly embraced on this subject here on the forum but I know others in my personal circle who feel and act the same.
They quit paying attention as well. We’re just a happy little group of ignorant fools.

To each their own. Just to address your question though..."too late" for you to actually do anything about what's coming down the line. By actually paying attention and not getting stressed one can prep for these types of events. In your example, if you'd watched your news ahead of time they may have told you bad weather was coming and you could prep your home. Not the national news most likely but that's just a local example for you. As I said, whatever works (just that some things work a little better than others when it comes to real life stuff). No labels involved.

[buddyhu]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

In the end, not everyone is “equipped” to deal with the constant barrage of the 24/7 in your face media and keep their prospective. Even those who are, can be affected at times, we’re all only human.

There is a middle ground.

I think it is a rare individual who can consult any new source many hours a day. But devoting 30 - 60 minutes a day to knowing a bit about what is happening in the world outside of one’s small circle of acquaintances is accessible for most, and has some value. It is also possible to find sources that are less biased and less inclined to engage in click-bait/fear mongering to goose their viewership/readership numbers.

If you choose not to be informed, then that is a choice you are entitled to make. There are consequences for the rest of society when people make such a choice. But it is a popular choice, and IMO, society is unlikely to thrive as long as people choose a comfortable ignorance over the discomfort of seeking the truth that lies underneath the noise and provocation.

I am another who feels that local weather news is not the stuff that will usually get coverage on the National news, unless there is reason to believe that it might be of interest to folks who live in a very different climate and a distant location…which usually means the weather event must be catastrophic or far-reaching in its downstream effects (like disrupting commerce, or closing the stock market).

[FLRon]

Having lived 61 of my 67 years in Ohio, I try to stay abreast of the major events in my home state, especially since I have family there. The recent tornadoes really got my attention as they were close to where I used to live.

What I found incredible was that I could watch it unfold on the Weather Channel some 1200 miles away. Even the local news meteorologists covered it briefly. So I guess what I’m saying is that media coverage exists, it just exists in multiple ways. Turning on the TV to capture these events is no longer the single, collective method that it once was.