Disaster porn is big business for the news media, and nobody in Oklahoma City likes to exploit, capitalize and profit from it more than the folks at Channel 9.
This was evident during Hurricane Harvey. Despite every national media outlet and news service being on the scene, News 9 went wall-to-wall with its coverage of the disaster, sending Kelly Ogle, stormchasers, and what felt like the entire news staff on a 500-mile trip to the region to provide round-the-clock coverage of the flooding, devastation, and heroic recovery efforts.
For example, this is what the front page of News9.com looked like for what seemed like a week:
To be clear, I’m not trying to discount or make light of what was a indeed massive news event and terrible tragedy. It’s an awful situation, but News 9 using so many resources to cover a natural disaster in a different state felt exploitive, and makes you question their motives.
With all that being said, I guess we can’t blame them for sending an alert this morning that informed viewers about the big 8.2 “hurricane” that struck Mexico this morning. They’re obviously dealing with hurricane fatigue:
Yeah, that’s it – a massive 8.2 hurricane rocked Mexico. I think it was the biggest one to hit the country since an F5 stuck Mexico City in the 1980s. Also, I guess we now know what happened to the KFOR Social Media Bandit that ran away during the move to the new offices. We never thought they would be scooped up by Channel 9.
Anyway, I guess I’m going to wrap this up and watch more tv news media coverage of Hurricane Irma. Please support hurricane (and earthquake) recovery efforts by donating to the Red Cross.
I have News 9 fatigue…
Get ready for the “Oklahoma Connections”. Like “OU grad now living in Miami” or “Edmond resident’s son living in St. Cloud evacuating to Oklahoma”. It seems they’ve always got to find a connection, ya know, to make it real.
No organization should be more acclimated to big wind than Ch. 9.
Channel 5 was just as bad. Why did Damon Lane need to go to Houston if we already have several other news outlets that are better equipped reporting on the situation there? Now he wants us to pay for him to repel off a building so he can get his giggles. It is uncanny to see the meteorologists in this city needing their egos constantly stroked by their social media followers in order to feel good about themselves.
The building may repel him, but he will rappel when he performs this meteorological feat.
+1
To your point, in the 1980s Channel 9 sent Roger Cooper to Mexico to cover a devastating earthquake from the scene. As you recall, he was never seen again.
That speaks volumes about the highest paid and most expendable of news personnel.
Kelly Ogle is “kind of a big deal”!
Was Channel 9 “On the scene, on the story”?
If they were, I wonder how they explained the lack of wind and rain during that hurricane. And the ground shaking under their feet.
Advance scouts for orange brokers. Prices have increased more than 10% in the past two days.
Why? Why do they go, it doesn’t assist those in/at the disaster?
It doesn’t provide anyone here with anything any more relevent that what is available via national news, social media, every news outlet in our universe. 40 years ago I can see it as the national news was three channels and a paper that hit your porch with 2 day old pictures, but now? Now it’s just a self-promotion weapon in their never ending arms battle with the other local channels.
I’m sure they used the term “only on 9” as often as Mary Fallin says
“I don’t have a fucking clue”.
It is embarrassing and is just a high tech version of slowing down to gawk at a car wreck. This type of run-up, jump on the bandwagon for ratings create an unnatural anger, i’m other people are beginning to have toward such stations. On the other hand the true voyeurs and nosy Nates, can’t get enough of it.
If they wanted to be cutting edge of covering disasters they would have a reporter outside of the state and national capitals–there is the epitome of a freakin train-wreck mating with a dumpster-fire.
It is part of qualifying them to report news. That is also why so many of them have franchises, such as “Wednesday’s Child,” “Your Life, Your Way,” etc. so you will know how much they care and the degree of their involvement in your lives and their community.
They should change their stupid slogan “On the scene, on the story” to “Right or Wrong, you heard it here first”. It’s easy enough to say later that their “reliable” sources were wrong, as long as they beat the other nitwits on air.
All of the local stations shredded their credibility during the Moore tornado by reporting that it was “confirmed” a half-dozen school kids were crushed under a wall. A short while later, they “confirmed” that the information was wrong. That’s why I watch local news as often as I pick up a newspaper.
Stopped watching Channel 9 for two reasons… first was sending Ogle to cover Texas news and news that was well covered by all the national news. If Ogle wants to report on disasters he should go hover around the Capital. Second, got tired of the constant scroll during national news and other non-news shows. I don’t really care that a shoplifter just stole a six pack from Walmart and don’t think its ‘scroll’ worthy news.
Your second observation is an example of the excess of the old news formula: tell them you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them you told them. It has become promote that you are going to tell them, tease them, tell them, tell them you told them and never fail to remind them you told them. The advent of the lower screen crawl and visual gimmicks, such as split screen, let them inundate you.
+1
They don’t give a fuck about storms once they get east of the metro.
Except they can continue to “inform” viewers, even after danger has passed, with satellite trucks and live helicopters. They must do this for promotional purposes, but also to justify the investment in that gear. Besides, it is not real easy to change to another story or discontinue coverage once a station commits so much equipment and personnel to a”big” story.
Don’t give to the Red Cross. Lots of better choices where your donation will actually go toward Hurricane Harvey relief.
It’s a complicated deal, but you’re pretty much right. This article explains it and shows some other places to donate. http://time.com/money/4920070/hurricane-harvey-where-the-money-goes-when-you-donate-to-the-american-red-cross/
(Yeah, that’s it – a massive 8.2 hurricane rocked Mexico.)
Why didn’t any of you notice this? It was an earthquake that hit Mexico NOT a hurricane, there is no such thing as an 8.2 hurricane.
Because the public owns the broadcast waves, stations are supposed to serve the public interest in order to keep their licenses. I question how sending the “local yokels” from OKC TV stations to disaster areas such as sites of hurricanes or earthquakes out of the viewing area of the station. These people take resources that could be used by people affected by the disaster (hotel rooms, food, water, add to traffic problems, and should they get into trouble could require first responders to help them, when they should be helping the victims of the disaster.
I don’t understand how sending these people to these areas can be considered a public service to the people in the OKC viewing area. TV stations should be licensed to people who provide service to the local viewers. KOCO, KWTV and KFOR’s license all are up for renewal in June 2022. Viewers in the OKC area should complain of this behavior to the FCC and ask that their license be revoked and given to another entity that will use it’s license in the interest of the local viewers.
The public owns the airwaves that the TV stations are allowed to use and make quite a bit of money in the process. If the public believes the current owners are providing a service to the community they should complain to the FCC to have their license revoked and replaced with someone who might actually do local news.
Not that this would ever happen but it would be nice to see one of the mega-corporations that own all the local TV stations actually lose its license because of the crap that they broadcast. Perhaps an unknown devil would be better than the devils we have broadcasting now. Bottom line of course is the stations could care less about the public. They just want to sell commercials, and will whore themselves out and pretty much do whatever it takes to sell the commercials, rather than serve the public interest while using the public airwaves, which is supposed to be the deal.
For the life of me I can’t understand why the cable company has to pay the local stations in order to re-transmit the local stations which are broadcast over public airwaves. Cable bills would be lower if they didn’t have to put the local stations on their lineup and then every year have to fight with them to lower the price the stations charge as they raise the rates every year. Also seems stupid to require the cable company to provide, and charge back what the local stations charge the cable company for something the public can get free over the air. When the cable channels, and the local channels charge more to the cable company the bills go up and the public gets mad at the cable company rather than the stations who are raising their rates.
I guess that is the problem when the “local” tv stations have too much political clout and can force the consumer to pay for local “free” over the air stations if they want cable tv. It’s quite the racket, and most recently Cox had to pay more to re-transmit KOCO while KOCO played the victim to the public to the evil cable company. While Cox has other reasons to hate them, getting mad at them when a local station is taken off the lineup because they are asking for more money is not one of those reasons. KOCO even played the public safety card when they were afraid for the public “during the this time of year when we have severe weather” would be in danger since they had been removed from the channel lineup. I guess KWTV and KFOR don’t provide weather coverage, and nobody watches KOCO over the air, plus I didn’t realize that September is now the severe weather month in Oklahoma. Good thing we have KOCO watching out for us!
Thank you, not-so-DumbOkie!
The purpose of television is to deliver the viewer to the advertiser.
The advertisers pay television stations to air their spots.
The cable provider pays the television stations to rebroadcast previously “free” signals.
The subscriber pays the cable company to deliver those signals.
The subscriber is paying the cable to watch the spots of the advertisers who pay the television stations.
The television stations regularly increase their spot rates and the cable companies increase their rates annually.
When you get your cable bill, check for franchise fees,. user and sales taxes.
Government, as usual, is also getting a share.
Edward R. Murrow more than once defined what this means of mass communication should and could be. He might not recognize it today.
I was watching Val live stream and the hotel called him and were wanting to know if they were coming to check into a hotel room cause they had others wanting the room. I got to thinking yeah our news people are down there taking up Hotel rooms that others might need. Didn’t seem right. Now Val did help rescue people but our LOCAL news didn’t need to send that many people down there. If I want to hear about what was going on in Houston I would of turned to either national news or streamed LOCAL tv from a LOCAL tv station in Houston.