I’ve been watching hours of coverage of Hurricane Katrina and I’ve seen dozens of reporters acting foolish on live or taped tv in 100 mph winds. Did you see the one with Brian Andrews from WWL? He was the one running out into the high winds as his photog rolled. He crouched behind a mailbox like he was on the frontlines in Iraq. And then, just after he signed off with CNN, the wind knocked him on his face.
I’ve heard people and tv critics criticize these reporters as showboating. I’ve heard anchors say “once somebody gets their head cut off on live tv by a piece of debris, these types of liveshots will stop.”
You know what? They’re wrong. The cold fact is there will always be a reporter willing and ready to go into the storm and there will always be a public wanting to watch. If anything is going to change, it’s going to get only more exciting.
Those kids on jackass (MTV show) would love to jump on a private plane to jump in front of an approaching storm. They’d be jumping from the rooftops into the storm surge or skateboarding atop the Superdome.
And the sad truth is people would watch. And if people would watch, some network may try to get even more daring with it’s people.
The best interview I’ve seen so far was by the WKRG reporter who found a man who lost his wife in the storm. It’s been on CNN and FOX tonight. The storm victim cried as he described not being able to hold onto his wife and her telling him to take care of the kids. The reporter, I think it was Jennifer Mayerle, wiped away her own tears.
History is in the making as this will prove to be an economic, humanitarian and environmental disaster that politicians, businesses and students will study for years. MommyCool asks a great question and want to know who made the major network programming calls for Tuesday night and why? As New Orleans slowly flooded the day after hurricane Katrina departed, ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX chose to air their regular 3-hour meaningless evening programming. What about Americans without cable, Internet or satellite reception? You’d find that most Americans either: (A) Know someone displaced by the storm and flooding; (B) Have been to New Orleans which is a city that will never be the same; or, (C) will feel the household spending strains of $3.50-$4.00 per gallon gas in the coming months. The networks, which are licensed to broadcast programming in the nation’s best interest over the public airwaves, had their news divisions noticeable absent during primetime, Tuesday, August 30th. Instead, the American public was treated to Big Brother, Most Outrageous TV Moments, a double-dose of According To Jim – Rodney (?!) and House! Peter Jennings just rolled over in his grave.
Actually Jamie….Brian Andrews works for WFOR in Miami. The stunt journalism station of the year…..