Anyone notice what a buncha candy-hinders reporters have become?

[txaslftist]

I was watching one of the MSM networks coverage on the hurricane last night, and all the best footage was done by an "amateur" who stayed and filmed after the regular reporters left because it was "too windy".

We are a far cry from the brave battlefield reporters of WWII. IMO

[SteppingRazor]

1. Wait a sec...

While the hurricane was hitting, reporters were being made fun of on DU for being out in the storm. Now that it's in hindsight, we're making fun of them for NOT being out in the storm?

Is there, at this point, anything a broadcasty journalist could do that would gain the approval of the TV-watching public?

[txaslftist]

2. There's a difference between standing in the rain to do your piece...

...and sticking around when it gets rough. The first is just silly, the second is brave.

A fine point, but its there.

And no. At this point there isn't much broadcast journalists can do to gain our approval (unless they get rid of some of their sponsorship).

[SteppingRazor]

3. I think the really great news opportunities are happening now...

If I was working in the Louisiana area, I'd be taking a motorboat into the city. Think of the stories going untold while the folks from CNN hang out in the outlying areas.

[demzilla]

4. The local coverage has been far better

Who needs to see Anderson Cooper being blown around in the wind in Baton Rouge? Hell, he'd be blown around by a 10 mph gust in Manhattan.

Speaking as a former journalist, I can at least -- GULP -- credit Fox with having sent Shepherd Smith to the French Quarter. And Jean Meserve's CNN piece was real journalism. But there's not much memorable after that . . . The feeds from the local news, with the exhausted mayor, and nola.com, give a much more up-to-date and broad view of the situation. Last night on a local TV station Mayor Nagin was complaining that there were too many cooks spoiling the post-Katrina rescue broth, and that the helicopter that was supposed to dump sandbags on the breached levee had failed to do so. He was pissed off and even used the word "frickin'".

Cable news just repeats itself over and over, packages the news with music and graphics, and it all loses its immediacy. They wouldn't run a 20-minute uninterrupted segment with the mayor if they could.