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Katrina roars onto TV
Katrina is the “perfect storm,” “the storm of the century” or “New Orleans’ worst nightmare,” depending on which rain-soaked, wind-battered TV type you listen to today.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper apparently will not be happy until he’s swept away on camera. This hurricane season, he’s been clutching his mike and flapping in storms from Florida to Alabama to Louisiana. Katrina is his biggest to date.
Brian Williams, NBC’s usually well-coiffed and nattily dressed anchorman, was bellowing from the New Orleans Superdome this morning as wind snatched portions of the arena’s roof with 9,000 refugees shivering inside.
Hurricanes can make a TV reporter’s career. Former Dan Rather came to national prominence on CBS reporting on Hurricane Carla in 1961 from Galveston. Over the years, Rather covered other major storms, including Andrew in ‘92.
Why are hurricanes such a hot topic for TV? Drama, suspense and fabulous pictures, that’s why. There’s nothing like witnessing a reporter hanging onto a railing, horizontal to the ground, describing nature’s wrath.
Last year, when I was “vacationing” in Florida, Hurricane Charley hit, and I wound up assisting in coverage for the Palm Beach Post. At one point, my friend Anne Rodgers and I were holed up in a motel watching local TV and witnessed one poor guy actually getting blown off a jetty. What he was doing on a jetty, we never knew, but he was rescued and all was well. And exciting.
Weather nerds — of which there are many — will be glued to TV sets all day, witnessing first-hand Katrina’s attack on the Gulf Coast. It is reality TV at its most impressive.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: News coverage
Comments
By Tom
September 6, 2005 10:09 AM | Link to this
Probably because it's not true.
By Tasha
August 31, 2005 09:12 PM | Link to this
What I'm still wondering is why, in the midst of all the predictions of how devastating Katrina could be (and as it turns out, actually was), nobody in the media mentioned that the budget for improving New Orleans's defenses was gutted by the Bush administration to divert more funds to the war in Iraq. Apparently, one of the projects that had to be abandoned because of the lack of funding was improving the levee that buckled and allowed Lake Pontchartrain to flood the city.
By Val
August 31, 2005 08:32 AM | Link to this
Seeing the looters makes me be ashamed to be a black person in america!!! It is just another case of blacks taking an opportunity to rise above but instead sink to the bottom of the barrel. Looking for food and water is one thing but that is not what was being dragged out of the Walmarts- again as usual we are more worried about purses, tv's and things like that instead of finding food and water for our children and elderly. All looters should be shot on site.
By Kim
August 29, 2005 05:28 PM | Link to this
Oh yes, Steve Harrigan was pretty entertaining in spite of the grim situation...especially when he decided to put on safety goggles at the urging of Fox viewers who emailed the network....What he really needed was full body armour and an anchor!
By Tracy
August 29, 2005 11:20 AM | Link to this
"as wind snatched portions of the arena’s roof with 9,000 refugees shivering inside."
Shivering? New Orleans... in August... with no power (no air conditioning.) Maybe "huddled" would be more accurate?
My favorite reporter so far is Fox News's Steve Harrigan, who at one point looked like he was having loads of fun, leaning forward, letting the wind hold him up. There were entire segments where he faced into the wind instead of turning to the camera, and I have yet to see his windbreaker's hood up.