Reporters do not need to stand outside in hurricanes.

[madaboutharry]

We don't need to see how terrible the weather is by watching a man suffering in the wind and torrential rain.

Really MSNBC? You folks should know better. It is dangerous and dumb.

[Renew Deal]

1. Are you not entertained?

[honest.abe]

2. Weather porn.

[brooklynite]

3. You don't need to watch them.

Reporters do outdoor stand-ups because they appeal to the audience.

[Effete Snob]

4. Lash them to a tree and make them stay there

[Emile]

10. LOL +1

[highplainsdem]

5. CBS News just showed a reporter standing in floodwater by a canal,

and admitting there could be alligators in the canal, but saying they were watching out for them.

[LiberalFighter]

16. They should warn the Magas not to swim there.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. I think Dan Rather was the first, clinging to a street sign IIRC

So it's become kind of standard for reporters to brave the storm, to show the intensity of the rain and wind and their dedication to their jobs.

But of course Dan had a long history of hurricanes before his late 1980s coverage

[Liberal In Texas]

7. It has always been this way since the technology to put a live camera on the air

was invented. And I recall in my many years in Broadcast News, that the local anchormen (usually men) practically demanded to be the person sent to where the hurricane was making landfall to do live stand-up reports.
And remember, the person you see in front of the camera isn't the only person sent to cover the hurricane. There is at least one photographer, producer and an engineering guy.

It's dramatic live infotainment and will always be thus.

[ananda]

8. It started with Dan Rather reporting on Carla 1n 1962.

It will never end now.

That made Dan Rather's career.

[madaboutharry]

9. I thought it was because he was a reporter in Dallas

when President Kennedy was assassinated.

[ITAL]

20. He was only stationed in Dallas

Because he made his name in Carla. He was called up to New York and then sent to be the chief of the southwest bureau in Dallas...just in time for JFK's assassination.

[madaboutharry]

21. Thanks for the information.

[LiberalFighter]

17. At least back then it was only broadcast during the local evening news.

[RainCaster]

11. I want to see the Local Weather Bimbo out in the storm

All the local stations in Seattle have reporters in tight dresses. I'm sure they majored in Strategic Lip Gloss at school. They are the ones I want to see out in the hurricane.

[madaboutharry]

12. Bimbo is a very sexist term.

[haele]

28. Bimbo is also a relatively cheap bakery brand in the SW region.

Bimbo is kind of like Hostess, they make soft sandwich breads, but they are more "famous" for kids treats like sugar glazed puff crackers, flavored toast and corn muffin packs, and little filled cookies, all in attractive shiny foil packets at the corner stores and bodegas.

When I was younger in California, Bimbo was a common insult for both men and women, typically towards those privileged types who relied on good looks or preening to get ahead in life. Cheap, all surface packaging but little real substance inside.

I've never heard Bimbo as being sexist, to me it was like calling someone a trumpery airhead.
On edit - understanding that meteorologists aren't stupid or airheads, and because of the amount of education most TV weather people went through if they actually have a degree in the field, they shouldn't be called airheads.
I don't quite have the same opinion when it comes to many vapid bobble-headed news readers who got their jobs because the camera liked them, but they weren't talented enough to actually become actors.

Haele

[Sympthsical]

13. I have this image

Of hair extensions whirling away like palm leaves in the maelstrom.

So stupid, so funny.

[nolabear]

24. The term is meteorologist.

The women have the same qualifications and jobs as the men. I’m currently watching one of them (in Seattle) interview a woman in a coverall in Florida, covering the storm on the ground.

These women are professionals in a highly visible environment. They dress fine. You’re free not to like it if it doesn’t meet some requirement you have of what’s proper dress for a woman.

[RainCaster]

27. I prefer a real meteorologist, but I am iritated by the local stations on weekends

My wife & daughters are also tweaked by the latest hires for weekend weather/news in Seattle. KIRO, KING, KOMO and Fox all seem to offer us the same push-up brassiere stuffed into a too-tight dress. This is simply my way of griping about how we have moved away from Jean Ennerson type newscasters.

[MineralMan]

26. Bimbo?

You apply for the job, then.

I object to your calling TV Meteorologists "bimbos."

[MarineCombatEngineer]

14. Ron White on Hurricanes:

&t=11s

Family Guy episode on Hurricane Norman.

[LiberalFighter]

15. They are not the only ones doing it.

[TSExile]

18. Yeah, I never got that.

Do they think we won't believe them unless they're right in the middle of that weather? On the other hand, these days...

[Moosepoop]

19. I was watching MSNBC when Idalia was making landfall.

The reporter on scene in Perry ended up doubled over, fighting to stay upright in the wind and rain. At that point, Willie Geist cut off the reporter and instructed him to get himself and his crew indoors to safety. Geist then continued the segment with an in-house weather guy.

The outdoor camera (apparently having been secured to something stable) continued to film the spot the reporter had stood in, and the footage was shown in a small box onscreen during the continued segment.

A few minutes after Geist had told the reporter to get himself and his crew indoors, the reporter returned to the same spot, again doubled over with his microphone in the exact same stance. Geist and the weather guy were taken by surprise, and mentioned that the reporter was now reporting to a different news outlet.

They all do it. MSNBC at least tried to limit the danger to the reporter and crew. Another outlet and the reporter himself chose to keep going with it.

[Xoan]

22. Idiocracy Lives!

[Mariana]

23. If everyone would turn that shit off, they wouldn't do it.

[Elessar Zappa]

25. You have a remote, don't you?