dagblog - Comments for "Six Things Media Personalities Could and Should Avoid when Covering a Disaster"

Teacher with a capital T.

Ramona — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:48:31 +0000

In reply to They all get this in school;

Teacher with a capital T. Seems fitting. They are pretty wonderful aren't they? And they need all the champions they can get.

They all get this in school;

Richard Day — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:47:54 +0000

In reply to Six Things Media Personalities Could and Should Avoid when Covering a Disaster

They all get this in school; they are taught this crap.

It is all propaganda; propaganda issued for the purposes of ratings.

My Lord, almost every single minute of cable news tells the same stories.

However, these brief discussions of heroics by our teachers just crush me.

The Teachers at Sandy were great, great heroes in saving the lives of scores of little babies.

And the Teachers in Oklahoma, my God, what wonderful human beings they truly are.

And I have learned that repubs in Oklahoma with the exception of those two goddamnable US Senators, have been more than supportive of our President's efforts to do right!

So I learned much from the cable news and the larger web sites even though I actually turned the sound off on my TV for prolonged periods.

I was just taken, really taken to the point of tears, by the heroics of our Teachers.

I might even capitalize Teacher for the rest of my life!

I just google for Tv stations

trkingmomoe — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:40:39 +0000

In reply to Sounds fascinating. Wish I

I just google for Tv stations in the nearest large town. I also get tips from other blogs that I read. It is better than national networks.

Yes, it's probably true that

Ramona — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:27:39 +0000

In reply to Moore has had 4 tornados

Yes, it's probably true that insurance companies are skittish there. But their own governments should be on top of it, given their history of crazy weather. And, yes, the fed should have been on top of it, too. If people are going to be allowed to live in those places they should be protected.

Sounds fascinating. Wish I

Ramona — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:24:58 +0000

In reply to I had been following a live

Sounds fascinating. Wish I had known about it or thought to go looking for something like that. That's the way to follow a story like this. Thanks, Momoe.

Moore has had 4 tornados

trkingmomoe — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:24:47 +0000

In reply to A good question from a 'real

Moore has had 4 tornados starting May 3, 1999 EF5 storm then having two small ones and ending with EF 5 yesterday. I would guess that Insurance Co's will not insure home owners in that town any more. It is a problem in Florida because of politics. Most of Oklahoma's politics don't make a bit of sense either. It has always been that way. Maybe they will wake up to Inoff and Colburn being owned by the oil and gas industry. We need national insurance for these kinds of events not just floods.

I had been following a live

trkingmomoe — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:19:01 +0000

In reply to Six Things Media Personalities Could and Should Avoid when Covering a Disaster

I had been following a live weather blog on Sunday and knew to check back on Monday because the weather conditions were going to be dangerous for that area. So I got to see live feed from KFOR channel 4 Oklahoma City as it was happening. In fact they are still live streaming tonight.http://http://kfor.com/on-air/live-streaming/ Also there is a fantastic weatherman at Channel 9 Oklahoma City KWTV and a chopper pilot Jim Gardener that did an excellent job of tracking where that Tornato was on the ground. I switched back and forth between the two as they were live streaming the situation. Both stations had choppers in the air tracking and giving reports following its progress. It was some of the most amazing work I have ever seen newscasters do. Their focus was saving lives. It put the national networks to shame. Afterwards they continued their coverage and stayed focused on rescue. I stayed with the two stations the rest of the evening and night. This was their town and they knew what was needed in their reports.

I saw a comment somewhere

Ramona — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:17:19 +0000

In reply to A good question from a 'real

I saw a comment somewhere about the two schools being in "poor neighborhoods" and thus not candidates for safe rooms. If that's true, and other schools have them, heads should roll. But they won't.

Guess I jumped the gun on

Ramona — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:15:42 +0000

In reply to Six Things Media Personalities Could and Should Avoid when Covering a Disaster

Guess I jumped the gun on this one. I should have known Wolf Blitzer would top everyone. He asked a tornado survivor if she "thanked the lord" for being here. She's an atheist.

Honest to God.

A good question from a 'real

NCD — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:01:40 +0000

In reply to Six Things Media Personalities Could and Should Avoid when Covering a Disaster

A good question from a 'real reporter' (ie, not a highly paid corporate 'media personality'):

...Albert Ashwood, an emergency management official, said the two schools that were hit lacked safe rooms for storms, because the appropriate financing had not been applied for. Limited funds meant that other priorities were set, he said. The presence of safe rooms, however, he said, however, did “not necessarily” mean that more students would have survived. But it is a “mitigating” factor, he said. “This was a very unique tornado,” he said. Despite being located in a region prone to tornadoes — and being devastated by one in 1999 — the city of Moore, according to its Web site, has no ordinance requiring storm safe rooms in public or private facilities.....

The children of Oklahoma learn early on just how much their lives are worth to the Republicans who run things there. A teacher's body to protect the kids is all they had. See, it's less expensive than a funding safe rooms.

Given a 15 minutes tornado warning, safe bet that Mr. Albert Ashwood would haul his own ass into a safe room, though it might 'not necessarily' save his life.