Don’t misunderstand me: I’m not predicting that Hurricane Florence is going to just fizzle out. I have no idea what it’s going to do. But then I’m not a meteorologist, am I? It might be tremendously destructive. Or it might not.
My problem is, I don’t know how much of the hurricane news reporting to believe. And a big reason why I have that problem is news reporting like… this:
https://leeduigon.com/2015/10/24/the-baddest-hurricane-ever/
To hear the noozies tell it, Hurricane Patricia was going to tear Florida loose from North America and sink it in the mid-Atlantic. Next thing you know, they were downgrading it to plain old bad weather.
Highly sensationalized, highly politicized “news” is almost as useless as pure ignorance–and much harder to fix.
They’ve downgraded it to Category 2, which is still a tough storm, but certainly nothing like the doomsday predictions a few days back. Sensationalism sells, that’s why they use it. One must wonder about their honesty, truthfulness and integrity as news people, however.
I’m not wondering about that anymore.
Every hurricane that comes along they hype up. The Weather Channel is especially bad at this. Maybe they think in doing so they motivate people to be prepared. But it’s also like the boy crying wolf. If they use hyperbolic language to describe every hurricane that comes along, how are people able to distinguish between something major and something minor?
They do a disservice to their viewers by exaggerating every weather event. it is very much a “Boy Who Cried ‘Wolf'” sort of situation. When I lived in Colorado, every winter storm was life threatening, until it actually happened and there was 1.5″ of snow. Likewise for anyplace else I’ve lived with multitude tornado warnings in the Midwest to heat warnings in Arizona. 110 degree weather in Arizona is hardly news.
Hey, Lee,
I have family in Florida in the St. Petersburg area, and prayed like heck that they would be spared. That was before it sizzled out, just before it got there. Am I wrong to think it might have been an amazing answer to prayer? I try to never underestimate God.
There were a lot of people praying for that, Evelyn. We have family in Charleston, SC.
I do agree that the media really hype these things to get ratings, although there also may be some concern about liability/credibility if they underestimate the threat and people get hurt. The weather really is unpredictable.
For that reason, I think the weather people may be distinguished from the fake news people, one of whom is blaming Trump for this one!