Never Let the Facts Get in the Way of a Good Story

Hurricane Earl….boy have we heard a lot about that guy this past week! Thanks to the advances in weather forecasting, we can now follow tropical depressions as they come off the coast of Africa. This gives the weather folks a lot of time to build up their stock of adjectives and to really get to know a storm before it blows itself out somewhere over the Canadian Maritime Provinces! Such was the case with our friend Earl.

Earl came blowing up the coast earlier this week, and about Monday or Tuesday, you could already hear the media start to lick their lips! I'm reminded of the old phrase, "never let the facts get in the way of a good story" when I look back at the way the media treated our friend Earl this week. Earl was a category 4 Hurricane as it headed towards the east coast of the country. That immediately made the media folks start to salivate – forget the fact that it was not over land but warm ocean water which did nothing but help Earl get stronger – as they speculated on where (not if) it would hit the east coast. Coverage plans were already being made and reporters were assigned to do prep work and to start beating the drum.

On Wednesday night, a local TV news station led off their 10 PM newscast with a reporter standing on the side of the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn holding a sand bag telling us that the Belt Parkway could be under water! Then he was at a beach in Queens talking about the devastation that would take place there. Finally he was at a sea wall in Brooklyn talking about how the flood surge would wash over at this area and flood the house behind him. Only after all this hype, at the end of the report, did he very quietly say something to the effect, "and that's what could happen to this part of southern Brooklyn and Queens were it to suffer a direct hit from a category 4 hurricane like Earl." Even then ALL the computer models showed that Earl would most likely travel off the coast, and at, best would be a wind and rain storm for us! Never let the facts get in the way of a good story….

I think the problem stems from the fact that east coast meteorologists – both government and private – are very jealous of their mid-west counterparts. I have the feeling that they think that these folks get a lot more respect than they do because they work in an area that spawns tornadoes! When a weather forecaster says that there are conditions in the area that are ripe for a tornado to develop, people listen. When a forecaster reports that a tornado has been spotted and that the projected path is heading right at you, you take cover. When an east coast meteorologist tells us on Tuesday that a big storm will be here on Thursday most people say, "Hey, they can't tell me if it's going to rain this afternoon and I'm supposed to believe them about something happening in 48 hours??" Like an old Rodney Dangerfield routine, they just get no respect!

So when a hurricane heads up the coast or a big snow storm looks like it's on the way, they always seem to go overboard. I know they would tell you that they are more comfortable to err on the side of caution and give us the worst case scenario, but frankly, I think they see it as a way to finally get even. I think they are secretly happy! "Now they'll listen to us", they think, and so the storm projection or the severity of the impact on us gets ramped up just a bit. Never let the facts get in the way of a good story….

The rest of the media is only too happy to join in and pulls out all stops. You know news directors all over the region are thinking, "will this be the big one?" "Will this be the Katrina of the North East?" And thinking that, they send reporters out to every beach and shore spot they can find – even when those same reporters end up doing reports with a backdrop that looks more appropriate for a Fourth of July story than a Hurricane Devastation story! "Hey, we're just trying to make sure the public is aware of what could happen if Earl should turn towards the coast!", I'm sure my fictitious news director would say if questioned. Never let the facts get in the way of a good story….

One meteorologist that I have a lot of respect for is Craig Allen of Newsradio 88, WCBS in New York. Craig has been at it for over 30 years and to me seems to be much more reasonable, and therefore much more accurate than a lot of his fellow forecasters. On Wednesday evening, when all the computer models had the storm off the coast, and the only variable seemed to be how far off the coast, Craig was on the air giving an honest forecast of what he saw. He even showed a bit a skepticism regarding a change the National Weather Service had made in watches and warnings for the area saying he just didn't see what they obviously were seeing. I trust Craig because over the years, he, in my opinion, has developed a track record of accuracy that has earned him my trust.

So another storm passes amid much hype that didn't turn out as the media expected. Another false warning given to the area that may have dissuaded folks from heading to the beach for the last weekend of the summer. Another over the top representation of the conditions that may have hurt shore businesses in their last money making weekend of the summer. I know I may sound a bit like the Mayor in the movie Jaws, but really, what advantage is there in constantly crying wolf? Is it because folks were pretty tired of the Ground Zero Mosque story and the coming of Earl gave us something else to talk about? I just wonder what's going to happen one of these days when the real warning comes about the real hurricane or snow storm or Nor'easter, and no one listens! There'll be a hell of a story to report on then, and a lot of finger pointing as to what led to the disaster, but somehow I doubt they'll assess any blame on themselves. Never let the facts get in the way of a good story….