They Earned It I rarely do reviews. There are several reasons for this, beginning with the fact that I'm not very good at it (the same goes for my sports predictions). Beyond that, who reads reviews? Does anyone honestly base their decisions about books, music, movies, food or anything else on a subjective critique of a total stranger? If they do, it isn't a good sign. That said, if ever an Emmy is bestowed for Best Coverage of a Major Storm, it should be given to the The Weather Channel. The way they worked Hurricane Katrina's assault on the Gulf of Mexico was on par with CNN's coverage of the first Gulf War... Or NASA's coverage of the moon shot. They broke out every tool in the box - Doppler, graphics, stastics, more Doppler, experts, interviews, brave men in the field, more Doppler, footage of past hurricanes, computer models, still more Doppler, everything. Poor Katrina probably felt like she had made a trip to the clinic by the time The Weather Channel was through examining her, and other than the poor folks in the path of the storm, America was fixated. It is a curiousity that was so harshly visited on Kitty Genovese, our penchant for watching train wrecks. Sometimes it is a pure reaction; everyone in the country found themselves glued to the television when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The same thing happened after 9/11. In part, this is done out of concern. Also, someone once put the idea into our collective heads that knowledge is power, so we look for that. Gophers dig holes; we watch TV. Our concern becomes almost ghoulish, though, when we watch in anticipation rather than out of reflex. Every time a guy named Bush starts a war in the Middle East, the advertisers line up at the doors of the news stations as if in need of soup and bread, because they know we'll be there to ladle it out. With the hurricane, as with war, the event is foreseeable. There was nothing to be done to change the situation. All we can do is watch the train roll down the track. The Weather Channel obliged our concern - or curiousity, whichever makes you feel more comfortable - and proved that they are the premier news organization when it comes to storm stories (as one would expect, just as The Cartoon Network is the foremost expert on Daffy Duck). They not only nailed down every peg in the book, their prescience also led them to place their star weather reporter, Jim Cantore, precisely at the point of landfall in Gulfport, Mississippi. The most impressive aspect of their blanket coverage was the frankness with which their anchors, experts and reporters addressed the hurricane and the prospects of anyone surviving it. Among other captions that stood out: TIME TO PRAY. When Cantore was asked what advice he had for those who did not heed the call to evacuate, he said they should ask the Lord to save them and their family, because they had made a bad decision by not leaving when they had the chance. If only the rest of the media could be so honest... For this one day, on this one channel, the spin was off, and the rewards were great. Admittedly, I've not paid much attention to the ads on The Weather Channel before, but suddenly there were loud commercials for Dodge trucks. And the "news crawler" at the bottom of the screen was devoted to a car dealership promotion when it could have been a conveyor for useful information, such as where to send money to aid the cause. As of this morning, 68 people are confirmed dead in the wake of Katrina, now merrily soaking the rest of the Eastern half of the United States. Most of the victims were killed in Mississippi, including 30 in one apartment building in Biloxi. For all the fear of massive casualties in New Orleans, the hurricane swerved away at the last moment. The relatively low (and early) casualty numbers do not lessen the degree of the tragedy. We remain in a time of need for prayer and generosity. The rest of the country will feel the aftershocks at the gas pumps, as the price of oil shattered the $70-per-barrel mark. As for the stricken region, they would be a lot better off had the war in Iraq not consumed 6,000 National Guardsmen who would otherwise be on hand to assist in the recovery effort. But, as was the case in Florida last year, the federal government will spend billions of dollars on cleanup, and the incumbents will be there to remind everyone that they did in next year's elections. Back to The Weather Channel: Great job, people. See you at the next disaster. If you get no other awards for your excellent work (other than the millions of dollars in sales, I mean), you've got one from me. Everyone together now, three cheers for TWC: Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Paul Heller 8/30/05 << back to the archives
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