A couple of notes from a weekend of TV news dominated by Hurricane Irene…
HLN spent Saturday showing coverage from affiliate stations along the East Coast, including Norfolk’s WAVY-NBC 10. On the desk there was former WESH 2 anchor Tom Schaad — a veteran of Orlando’s hurricane-filled season of 2004.
Meanwhile on Sunday, WFTV News Director Bob Jordan — a man who doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind — was busy on Twitter critiquing the New York-centric, doom-and-gloom storm coverage. Some samples of his entertaining tweets:
- Watching network coverage of the (marginal) hurricane. All I can say is, “Oh, the hyperbole.”
- In 2004, 5 named storms hit FL. 3 of them (Charley, Frances & Jean) had winds in excess of 115MPH. Sorry NYC, your storm is puny.
- Some of these network reporters (networks shall remain unnamed) look downright foolish.
- ABC Reporter informs us that winds are about 20 miles per hour at his location. That’s no typo. TWENTY miles per hour.
- GMA anchor open at 9A references “MONSTER hurricane.” This is not, has not been and will not be a Monster hurricane. It is a tropical storm.
- WFTV had more boots on the ground covering the ’04 hurricanes than ABC News does covering this “monster hurricane.”
- Not much evidence of social media on ABC this morning. They are behind the curve.
- At 11AM, ABC graphics and copy still refer to Irene as a “hurricane.” This is beyond hype, this is deliberate misinformation.