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The Weather Channel takes hype to a New Low

Guest Imperator

By Guest Imperator,
in Weather Forecasting and Discussion

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Guest Imperator

Guest Imperator

Posted
Posted

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/10/21/now-more-than-ever-weather-com-is-out-of-control/

 

Great blog post by the Capital Weather Gang. Even a relatively benign, typical Nor'easter, (like what we are seeing currently) is being spun to crazy levels by this formerly credible weather outlet.

 

Fair Use Excerpt: "A headline today on Weather.com, The Weather Channel’s Web site, has reached new heights in its absurdity and, frankly, irresponsibility. It’s leading Weather.com down a dangerous path of completely losing credibility as a serious source of weather information."

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Guest Imperator

Guest Imperator

Posted
Posted

Don't let reality get in the way of a good hype session.

 

 

It's sad, because I use to watch TWC all the time when I was a kid. They are leading the way down a bad path of turning weather into something of either entertainment value or something to always be feared and less about wonderment and science.  It's a discredit to all of the hard working serious weather professionals out there. 

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Juliancolton

Juliancolton

Posted
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In an age when weather information is outdated after 10 minutes, and Chad the 16-year-old has more ECMWF products than most forecasters, it's easy to understand why TWC is desperate for hits and ratings. I've grown to abhor the modern TWC as much as the next wx enthusiast, but they're probably going to pull stunts like this every week or so for the rest of the cold season. Not worth the outrage as far as I'm concerned.

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AvantHiatus

AvantHiatus

Posted
Posted

It's just a secondary source, no point in getting upset about something you don't use constantly. This applies to anything really. The demographic that watches TWC is just the casual person.

 

TWC is becoming worse in context because it is primarily reliant on television media. Internet users generally have access to more expansive products and likely have higher standards.

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Guest Imperator

Guest Imperator

Posted
Posted

It's just a secondary source, no point in getting upset about something you don't use constantly. This applies to anything really. The demographic that watches TWC is just the casual person.

 

TWC is becoming worse in context because it is primarily reliant on television media. Internet users generally have access to more expansive products and likely have higher standards.

 

Because it's geared to the casual viewer and not a weather hobbyist/professional does not give them license to devolve into what they have become. If anything, they should hold themselves to a more professional standard because they are dealing with people that do not have more than basic knowledge of the weather, rather than preying on people's fears and emotions.

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N. OF PIKE

N. OF PIKE

Posted
Posted

Couldn't really care less. They are catering to the average American and trying to get said American to peer away from their cell phone for 5 minutes , so they try to get their attention. Are they calling for a foot of snow? No so as .....damageintolland would say "hype sells" and hype gets your attention. Are they calling for any crazy conditions that aren't forecast?

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Mike.Ventrice

Mike.Ventrice

Posted
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While I agree with most on this forum regarding the over-hype on storms and ridiculous headlines to generate web-clicks, for what it is worth, this will be a nasty storm for the Northeast. 

 

GFS is dropping the storm to 995mb  and as others posted above there will be issues along the coast. But that being said, yes it's just a rain storm and the diction in the headline is rather misleading. I presume using the word "impact" rather than "threaten" would pay dividends to the greater meteorological audience.

 

Something that I encountered at TWC when I made a visit down there to give a talk was that they are severely limited to the words they say on air. This goes for all broadcasters, including the "expert desk" folks. The general audience has dramatically shifted since most of us watched TWC on a religious basis. But note that this isn't the only place that we've seen these changes... CNN is another example of what was once a credible news source that now gives us push alert texts regarding celebrities. 

 

No one likes change. I am also one that wishes TWC goes back to what we were all accustom to. But when it comes down to it, if they stayed that way and did not adapt the current times... there probably wouldn't be a TWC to watch. 

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AvantHiatus

AvantHiatus

Posted
Posted

I hear the same nonsense on the network evening news - "78 million people in the path of tornadoes!!!".   And after all the other

catastrophes reported in the same dire tones in that half hour, one should just crawl under their bed.

On the contrary, was the Sandy hype valid? However, the danger with hyping everything is that people will become desensitized. It just seems like a shallow way to keep people watching.

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Mr Bob

Mr Bob

Posted
Posted

It all started after NBC purchased them in 2008.  

It started in the mid to late 90s...and the horrible phrase "appointment viewing"....add on the internet and weather data at your fingertips and so it goes...Landmark Communications have always been shrewd business people...The Battens always milked the cow dry then sold it...NBC was the sucker at least from the TV aspect...the weather.com brand is still worth a ton....

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Guest Imperator

Guest Imperator

Posted
Posted

While I agree with most on this forum regarding the over-hype on storms and ridiculous headlines to generate web-clicks, for what it is worth, this will be a nasty storm for the Northeast. 

 

GFS is dropping the storm to 995mb  and as others posted above there will be issues along the coast. But that being said, yes it's just a rain storm and the diction in the headline is rather misleading. I presume using the word "impact" rather than "threaten" would pay dividends to the greater meteorological audience.

 

Something that I encountered at TWC when I made a visit down there to give a talk was that they are severely limited to the words they say on air. This goes for all broadcasters, including the "expert desk" folks. The general audience has dramatically shifted since most of us watched TWC on a religious basis. But note that this isn't the only place that we've seen these changes... CNN is another example of what was once a credible news source that now gives us push alert texts regarding celebrities. 

 

No one likes change. I am also one that wishes TWC goes back to what we were all accustom to. But when it comes down to it, if they stayed that way and did not adapt the current times... there probably wouldn't be a TWC to watch. 

 

Mike, I dont think anyone disagrees with the meteorological impacts of this storm. However, I personally feel that weather is an area that should be presented to the general public in the most rational and responsible way possible. Hyping storm after storm this way just to get attention/click bait, I feel is very irresponsible. Eventually, it becomes a life safety issue because if something really dangerous comes around, people are not going to heed the warnings because of all the previous hyping of storms that were normal seasonal events.  If you want to analyze a step further, all this media fear mongering with the weather could potentially scare the next generation of weather professionals away from the industry. 

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Kory

Kory

Posted
Posted

On the contrary, was the Sandy hype valid? However, the danger with hyping everything is that people will become desensitized. It just seems like a shallow way to keep people watching.

That's comparing apples to oranges.  Sandy was an EXTREMELY rare storm.  Life threatening to a lot of people with surge and wind not seen in a very long time in that area of the country.  However, nor'easters are much more common than a Sandy type situation.  

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JBG

JBG

Posted
Posted

Great blog post by the Capital Weather Gang. Even a relatively benign, typical Nor'easter, (like what we are seeing currently) is being spun to crazy levels by this formally credible weather outlet.

Do you mean "formerly" or do you mean that now they are only "formally" reputable rather than reputable in reality?

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Guest Imperator

Guest Imperator

Posted
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Do you mean "formerly" or do you mean that now they are only "formally" reputable rather than reputable in reality?

 

 

Edited, thanks.

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Derecho!

Derecho!

Posted
Posted

This isn't just Weather.com. Over the last year or so on the major three networks evening news I've seen them lead off with coverage of a current or impending severe weather outbreak that frankly is pretty run-of-the-mill, even with multple other major breaking news items that day.  They certainly didn't do that before. They're devoting the level of coverage you'd expect for the Superoutbreak to something that's 2 or 3 Red boxes, 3-4 tornadoes and maybe 1 F3 with some flash flooding.

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Guest Imperator

Guest Imperator

Posted
Posted

This isn't just Weather.com. Over the last year or so on the major three networks evening news I've seen them lead off with coverage of a current or impending severe weather outbreak that frankly is pretty run-of-the-mill, even with multple other major breaking news items that day.  They certainly didn't do that before. They're devoting the level of coverage you'd expect for the Superoutbreak to something that's 2 or 3 Red boxes, 3-4 tornadoes and maybe 1 F3 with some flash flooding.

 

Especially ABC...

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DTWXRISK

DTWXRISK

Posted
Posted

 SCOTT    I posted on this event  6  days ago as a significant   oct   new England noreaster  and  got  almost NO response....
 so   some  of  us  did  seen  the potential  of this  event 

 

Kind of a CWG fail. Winds caused quite a bit of damage and flooding is getting serious where I am. Agree that it shouldn't be hyped, but this actually was rather strong for an October storm.

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Guest Imperator

Guest Imperator

Posted
Posted

The media really started becoming out of bounds obsessed with the weather as a result of Hurricane Katrina. I am sure the rise of the internet and the some armchair weather hobbyists also contributed to what we are dealing with today. While a major hurricane or severe weather outbreak warrants extensive coverage, events such as nor'easters, thunderstorms, winter storms and even some low level tropical storms that were previously normal seasonal events have become fodder for the media and some weather outlets to hype and fear monger to ridiculous levels. 

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