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Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Hurricane slams coast; journalists drenched by cliches
So, have you made that grocery store run yet? Got milk? Bread? Bottled water? Batteries?
Most important … have you hunkered down?
Hurricanes bring out the cliches in journalists like almost no other event. Headline writers get to use words like pound, slam, clobber, devastate. The TV guys tell us to hunker down so often, the phrase could be its own drinking game.
Even hurricane preparations bring out a steady stream of familiar reports. For a long time I’ve wondered if there’s a law that says TV cameras can’t photograph men nailing plywood over windows unless the men agree to take off their shirts first. And the men in question are almost always people who really shouldn’t be taking off their shirts for television cameras.
My other peeve is the TV weather people’s choice of location for reporting hurricane news. They always stand outside, no matter how hard it’s raining or blowing, and when they’re not telling us yet again to hunker down, they’re looking concerned and warning: “Whatever you do, don’t go outside!”
Do they listen to themselves?
And is it just me, or does it seem a little too coincidental that signs always happen to blow by the weather guys as they’re standing outside telling us not to do what they’re doing? I don’t know. The first few times, it seemed cool, but lately it seems to happen on every single shot on every single station.
Do you think they’ve got some guy standing off-camera, flinging signs at the weather guys to make the storm seem even stormier? And if so, why the heck isn’t that guy hunkered down? The reporters might be missing a screw for standing outside under such conditions, but at least they get to express their concern on camera.
The rest of the crew are just out there getting soaked.
I’m hoping Hanna makes a sudden right turn between now and Saturday and we won’t have to see any of the above. But don’t take any chances. Buy some bread and plywood and maybe a sign or two to fling.
And for gosh sakes … hunker … oh, I can’t even say it.
