Media LOVES Disaster!

[christa]

Okay . . . did anybody else see The Today Show the other morning (can't remember when . . . I think Fri. morning) . . . they were covering the "floods" in the northeast. They were showing a woman frantically paddling a canoe, like she was fighting for her life . . . talking about how horrible the conditions were . . . after a few seconds of their mindless babble, a few national guardsmen WALKED BY the cameras, in front of the woman . . . the water wasn't even over their boots.

After seeing that and thinking back to the ENDLESS coverage of the hurricanes, I'm thinking, do they actually miss having a disaster to cover?

I hate the media more and more every day. How can they get away with fabricating a story, just to get a few viewers? I KNOW there have been problems with flooding in the NE . . . but come on!

[IRescue452]

That's funny, I'm sorry I missed it.

[Daisy and Delilah]

I couldn't agree with you more Christa. I can hardly stand to watch the news anymore just for this reason. It's turned into a theatrical drama more than just standard information to keep us up to date on latest happenings. Being a little older than most here at PT, I remember back to the newscasts of years ago. They were simply reporting the news and nothing else. Today, most reporters thrive on other people's misery and hardship. They figure, the more graphic and personal they can get, the more people will tune in to their station. It's turned into a drama stage with actors as players. It's so sad to think that so many of those people, that are exposed on national television, could probably have gone the rest of their lives without seeing that horrible incident they had to endure. Not to mention that everybody and their brothers and sisters watched it too. I am personally sick and tired of the media reporting stories and embellishing many details before knowing all the facts. How do they get away with this all the time? How do they avoid lawsuits? I just wish someone could stop it before it goes any further. I'm ecstatic that you mentioned this because it's something that needed to be addressed a long time ago.
Terry

[christa]

I've been watching the "forecast" for Tropical Storm Wilma this morning.

I just wanna see . . . if it doesn't make landfall on the Gulf Coast as a Category 5 . . .

They'll all be so disappointed.

[jackie]

a woman frantically paddling a canoe, like she was fighting for her life . . . talking about how horrible the conditions were . . . after a few seconds of their mindless babble, a few national guardsmen WALKED BY the cameras, in front of the woman . . . the water wasn't even over their boots.

Haha, thats pretty funny. It makes me wonder what else they embellish to keep people tuned in.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Is it the news media or are the media giving us what we want....

I agree that the media (especially tv) go for the extreme, the gruesome. But that is what sells. When there is an auto accident.....people gather round to gawk.

And it isn't anything new. When I was 10 my older sister was in a horrible auto accident. There was a photo in the newspaper the next day. There she is...15 years old....on a stretcher....covered in blood from a head injury and in terrible pain from a broken back and pelvis...and there is a woman standing over her looking at her. With her is a little girl with long blonde pig tails...also looking at her. Paramedics are there. There is no reason for that woman and child to be there -- except to "see".

And as there are more and more choices in televised news...they need to give the viewers whatever will keep them coming back to watch. So which is the horse and which is the cart?

[momoffuzzyfaces]

The media has been having a field day today!

Fox reports a dam in MA is in danger of breaking beause of the rain. They have been watching it all morning. UNITL there was a press converence and the experts said the dam was in no worse shape than it was yesterday. The reporters kept asking the "experts" if they were sure.

In Baltimore, there were terrorists threats against two tunnels. The reporters were concerned about the traffic being backed up because the tunnels were closed. HELLO!!! Be concerned because people might be killed if this turned out to be real; not because there is a lot of traffic.

Now, something I'm sure we will all hear more about in the days to come than we could ever want to: Tropical Storm Wilma is now a Hurricane. Oh, they don't know if it's even going to come to the US but I think they will be sooo disappointed if it doesn't. They are already sure it won't effect the oil refineries in the gulf. I can just hear sobbing from all the price gougers who have been hitting us with higher prices. They can't use Wilma as an excuse to hit us further. I'm sure they will find some other reason though.

[christa]

I thought of another story that got BLOWN WAY OUT THERE!

Remember that plane a few weeks ago . . . the landing gear got stuck and they had to fly around for hours before they could try to land . . . and then, according to every news channel, it was going to be a horrible incident, a terrible crash!!!

I was watching one of the news channels and they had this guy on that was desperately trying to tell everyone that it would be fine . . . there was no way that it would cause any deaths or anything . . . that the pilot was awesome and this wasn't the first time this had happened . . . the news anchors didn't seem to want to hear that!

And then it landed . . . PERFECTLY! No incident at all.

[christa]

Now, something I'm sure we will all hear more about in the days to come than we could ever want to: Tropical Storm Wilma is now a Hurricane. Oh, they don't know if it's even going to come to the US but I think they will be sooo disappointed if it doesn't. They are already sure it won't effect the oil refineries in the gulf. I can just hear sobbing from all the price gougers who have been hitting us with higher prices. They can't use Wilma as an excuse to hit us further. I'm sure they will find some other reason though.

Do you think that the media and the oil industry are in this together? If they make ALL of these hurricanes into serious disasters, we'd have to understand the gas price hikes, right?

[RICHARD]

I thought of another story that got BLOWN WAY OUT THERE!

Remember that plane a few weeks ago . . . the landing gear got stuck and they had to fly around for hours before they could try to land . . . and then, according to every news channel, it was going to be a horrible incident, a terrible crash!!!



And then it landed . . . PERFECTLY! No incident at all.

Ahem,

You left out that the plane circled the place where most stupid stories get started........Los Angeles, Cah Lee Fuh Nee Ah...

I raced home that day.......I wanted to see the sparks, not the accident, as the tires ground down to the rims....

Kinda like a NASCAR race.

[christa]

I raced home that day.......I wanted to see the sparks, not the accident, as the tires ground down to the rims....

Kinda like a NASCAR race.

That was kinda neat! That pilot was GOOD! He not only landed it without sending it up into flames . . . that front wheel was dead center of the runway!!!

[Kfamr]

I've been watching the "forecast" for Tropical Storm Wilma this morning.

I just wanna see . . . if it doesn't make landfall on the Gulf Coast as a Category 5 . . .

They'll all be so disappointed.

I surely won't! She's supposed to be heading my way.

[christa]

I surely won't! She's supposed to be heading my way.

Well, I hope & pray that for you & Florida, it won't be as bad as they're already making it out to be.

I want to make clear, I'm not trying to make light of the hurricanes or any disasters . . . it just kills me that these news networks thrive on this stuff.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Do you think that the media and the oil industry are in this together? If they make ALL of these hurricanes into serious disasters, we'd have to understand the gas price hikes, right?

Wouldn't surprised me in the least if some of the media companies owned stock in the oil companies.

[RICHARD]

Case in point?

The Holloway/Aruba Mystery.

Every night of the week it's Beth Holloway Twitty on the tube..
When the networks left Aruba for Hurricane Katrina, BHT broke her promise to
"Stay in Aruba until I find out what happened to Natalie..."

It's a small wonder that she got no cooperation from the Aruban authorities.

The media made a HUGE stink about this gal's disappearance...they followed the mom all over the island....that just bred the contempt the locals had for this woman and her daughter.

Hey, Natalie is missing, but chose to ignore the guy that got his arse tossed overboard on his honeymoon??

-----------------------------------------

The most troubling part about all the murders and disaster stories is that the media chooses the most photogenic, good looking people to profile and should you happen to be poor, ugly or ?????

FORGET IT!