On Monday WFOR chief meteorologist David Bernard took on the subject of hurricane hype on his blog. It was spurred by a story he read on NBCMiami and which he says took a “rather flippant approach” to coverage of tropical storm Ana.
The article on NBCMiami, which appears to have been edited multiple times since being published, apparently took issue with the coverage of tropical storm Ana and how it may or may not become a hurricane. Bernard says no one forecasted Ana will even become a hurricane and paned the article for the lack of substance and information.
For his part David thinks there is no such thing as hurricane hype. Perhaps rightfully pointing out that we don’t need an active season to get hit by a big hurricane. He also points out something we often forget, South Florida is a transient region, people constantly come and go. There are many out there who who either never experienced a hurricane or if they did it was a small one, nothing on the scale of Andrew.
He also took issue with the lack of information in that article and its “laissez-faire attitude about the whole thing.”
Then at the end of his post he added this:
This is the same station that carried South Florida through Andrew when other broadcasters were unable to. The new staff at NBC6 might want to watch this video of their former colleagues Bryan Norcross, Kelly Craig and Tony Segreto to get a feel for what “hype” is all about.
What do you think? Is there such thing as hurricane hype?
As much as I hate hearing the same thing over and over I do think David Bernard makes a good point, many in South Florida have not experienced a true hurricane at all. Wilma was a small one yet it created quite the mess. We had no power for a week, there were lines for water and ice that stretched for a mile or more. The supermarkets were mostly in the dark with empty shelves. It looked like something from a disaster movie.
And of course we know that if stations did take a more relaxed approach then they’d be blamed for not doing enough.
The video of WTVJ’s award-winning Hurricane Andrew coverage after the jump
David Bernard nailed it, and it’s no surprise that he now is the best meteorologist in the market. Hype is a fine line–I don’t think the weathercasters are guilty of the hype; it’s the same hack anchors and field reporters who overdo it when a hurricane flag goes up. You are what you are-if you’re a crappy reporter when it’s sunny, you don’t turn into Cronkite during a tropical storm watch.
Remember, it is the producers and managing editors and news directors who plan the coverage and design it. They are the ones who send out the reporters into the storms and one day, after someone dies it will all stop. The crappy look of hurricane coverage is all due to bad producers, especially at NBC. Everytime they have STORM Coverage, they have the crappy music to draw in the viewers and give it suspense. It’s about time some of these shitty producers in this market realize they SUCK!!!
I remember Judy Echavez getting hurt while covering a hurricane in the Bahamas. She broke some ribs if I remember correctly and was off the air for some time. I wonder what kind of injury PAY she received for that?
NBC Miami is written by a bunch of college kids with no journalism experience. That’s what you get when you pay people 30 thousand bucks.
WOW, NBC Miami pays their bunch of no journalism experience college kids 30 thousand bucks? That’s almost twice the amount that WFOR pays their one day an intern, next day a producer, no journalism experience college kids.
Got to take issue with you saying Wilma was not a major storm. When it hit broward Don Noe said it became a cat. 3 storm. I have been in major storms and this was major. 75% of the houses in my area needed a new roof. There was no power in some areas of broward up to a month. After the storm I called sev of my customers. There was no power from Vero Beach on down. On the west coast I heard it was from Ft Myers down. In my area there were gusts up to about 125- 130 MPH. It tore apart my screen room(with a roof that it curled up) which was undamaged in over 20 years and winds of over 100 MPH from Andrew. This was a major storm.
David Bernard is HOT
To say that a hurricane might strike in Miami in five days…or however it first appeared on the website this weekend…is just silly. What station in their right mind would post that? Hellllllooooo alarmist TV people.
But then again, look at the website and what it has become… you used to be able to get local news stories that the station did off of the website, now it’s just a bunch of “what you’re doing tonight” crap.
I think I feel 37% outraged about it.
so stupid…
The people at NBC6 kep bragging about how cutting edge their site is. Our managers say it is getting more hits than any other site in town and our ratings are a strong number 2 in this market on television. We could be number one again very soon.
Cutting Edge? LOL! There’s no mention of the channel number, and what’s with all the little black blocks for M, I, and a triangle (supposed to be an ‘A’)? Ridiculous.
I find WFOR’s site the best of the locals here (or should I say the “least bad”?), and that’s only because it has a quick link nav bar on the left. Everyone else has gotten rid of theirs for who knows what reason.