Should the Weather Channel Start Reporting News?

[Hard Attack]

Everyone, I wrote this Last weekend in frustration from the non stop Competing Coverage of The Last Hurricane, and it looks like its happening again today for the next couple of days.... Enjoy.

http://www.hardnewsnow.com/Weather_Channel_Commentary.html

Should the Weather Channel Start Reporting National & World News?

September 5, 2004

I don't know about you news junkies out there, but I am thinking about forwarding this to the 'Weather Channel' for what I have witnessed in the last 48 hours is an insult to those who expect news to be reported by news outlets. You know who I am referring to, MSNBC, FOX, and CNN.

All news has come to a halt for this 'Hurricane Frances'. With news reporters deployed on the beach fronts, boat docks, and parking lots of condominiums that are in the path of this storm, all reporting about the 'high winds, the rain, the blowing palm trees and of course, those bicycles that strangely haven't blown down to their sides.

We've all seen the boats rocking in the docks, sail boats being blown by with no one on board, emergency lights, downed power lines, and all the reports on 'how to survive without power' for about 500,000 to 1,000,000 people are without power.

But, even if you are out of power, the news is reporting to you the phone number you should call in case you are out of power, as if even though you have no power you magically can watch the TV set anyway to retrieve the number being displayed.

Now don't get me wrong, watching a building get blown down by a hurricane is something I would watch. But talk about over doing it, especially with so much else going on in the world. I know its labor day weekend and all, but give me a break, there are some real juicy stories that are linked up on Hard Attack News.com, links to stories that many news junkies would love to see reported, discussed, debated, but nope, not this weekend, not this week, for the finale after a week of GOP Convention Broadcasting is 'Hurricane Frances'

The gang over at the Weather Channel must not be too happy. There is a network that goes to work everyday reporting the weather, and does a fine job at it if you ask me. They go to work reporting the weather even when there are no storms going on. They show up to work when it's only drizzling out somewhere, and they report it. Their Big Stories are 'Hurricanes, Twisters, Snow Storms and maybe one day a Tsunami' These are their 'Big Breaking News Stories' This is what they have been waiting for, and frankly, deserve to be able to have the audience for those searching for the latest developments that arise from weather fronts. The Weather Channel doesn't show up on the scene of a terrorist attack, a bank robbery or a train wreck, do they?
They Concentrate on Weather.

So what are the Cable News Networks covering for the last 24 hours? You know it, the big hurricane. The Big One, Non Stop, over and over and over, live coverage of those palm trees being blown to their sides, the twigs on the street, that stop sign wobbling back and forth.

The Weather Channel might want to consider for the next big storm that comes into town, to maybe psyche out the competition and start broadcasting real news. Could you imagine that?

What would the MSNBC, FOX and CNN networks do, start competing with the weather channels news reports and actually start reporting on Real News?

I bet the Weather Channel would take over the Real News market. All they would have to do is give a 5 Minute Fast Report on Top World, National and Local Headlines say 12 minutes into their show from the top or bottom of the hour. That would be more than you see in an hour on the Cable News Networks.

Have you ever counted the amount of actual stories that are reported on these hour shows on the cable news? They talk about nothing, that's why they have those 'Top of the Hour' and 'Bottom of the Hour' 'News Alerts', telling you everything that's going on in 90 seconds, and then moving into an hour of mind bending spinning on issues being lobbied by the lobbyists that still exist, those lobbyists that have disappeared off the Radar Screen in recent years.

Hey Weather Channel Executives, Producers, Knock this story around at your next Board Meeting! Who knows, you guys over there could actually pull it off and steal the whole cable news crowd.

Thanks for your attention everyone.

This Has Been Another Hard Commentary.


http://www.hardnewsnow.com/Weather_Channel_Commentary.html