NBC Nightly News "Without Warning"

[Matt Magiera]

I think this is pretty slanderous towards the meteorologists at all the affiliates, the National Weather Service, and all the chasers/spotters reporting on the tornado yesterday. This is just rediculous. I think there needs to be a line drawn here between a "good story" and discrediting the people who potentially saved lives yesterday from the tornadoes. There was a Tornado Emergency in place, and the SPC had forecasted it 7 days out. James Spann publicly challenged NBC Nightly News on Twitter but has yet to recieve a response.

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[Shawn Gossman]

The media just wants to start drama so they get ratings even if it means they could encourage further death and injury. I say they can encourage this because people are attached to the media, people listen to the media as if the media is their Christ and Savior. If people start believing that no warning, none at all happens, they are going to start ignoring actual warnings and predictions made before to weather happens. Then people will die. Then people will be seriously injured. And of course the media, not willing to take the blame where the blame is due, will say "there was no warning" and the meteorology community will be to blame. This is a sad deal that has to happen in 2016!

 

[Jeff Duda]

It's long past time for that tired old cliche to die. It says a lot about the quality of reporting on NBC Nightly News to still be using that. Doesn't NBC have a meteorologist? If I were that person I'd feel somewhat ashamed for being connected to an agency that still uses that phrase.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I always find myself a bit entertained by the fact that there are still people who are offended by sensational journalism. It’s nothing new, it will never change. In any big tornado event the media will always find that one person who says it hit without warning and the media will run with it, it brings in the ratings and gets people talking about them. This very thread shows that they won by their sensational headlines, it got you guys talking about them. It’s win/win for them.

I give two shits about what the media says, because I worked in that industy and I know that it’s all about what’s good for business and bringing in the raitings. If their sesnational headline offends people, they still win because it gets people like you talking about them. It draws them attention.

When people stop giving a crap about what they say and ignore their sensation headlines and no longer pay attention to them and their ratings drop, then they might change. But with how people in this country are, I find that to be a very very long time before that even happens.

But by all means, if you want to dwell over this and lose sleep over it than go for it. That's the attention they want. NBC Nightly News scored a point and won because of this very post, because it got you talking about them. Bravo for taking the bait and giving them exactly what they were fishing for.

 

[rdale]

But by all means, if you want to dwell over this and lose sleep over it than go for it. That's the attention they want. NBC Nightly News scored a point and won because of this very post, because it got you talking about them. Bravo for taking the bait and giving them exactly what they were fishing for.

Actually that's not how ratings work... NBC News doesn't get more for their advertising dollar because they are ridiculed by experts. If it causes the public to switch from CBS Evening News to NBC Nightly News then yes you'd have a point. But when a non-viewer sees a trusted expert like James Spann saying "NBC is crap" I don't think that will make them skip dinner tomorrow to gather the family up and watch

 

[Steve Miller]

Regarding this subject, Rick Smith said it best:

 

[rdale]

Rick's a smart man! The more we can do to get NBC News realize how bad their screwup was, the better our odds of reducing the chance it happens again. ABC hasn't made that mistake twice

 

[Matt Magiera]

Rick's a smart man! The more we can do to get NBC News realize how bad their screwup was, the better our odds of reducing the chance it happens again. ABC hasn't made that mistake twice

Exactlty the point I'm trying to make. I don't know if this was "sensational journalism" and intended, or if whoever wrote the story didn't pay attention to the warnings. Whichever the case, you can't get much more warning than this...


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[Jeff Duda]

Regarding this subject, Rick Smith said it best:
View attachment 11650

True statement. I have some replies:

1) I didn't go to NBC's website to look it up
2) I didn't turn on NBC to look for it on their show
3) I haven't mentioned it to another person outside of this thread
4) The tweet is helping further the spread of the message because...
4a) tagging them in the tweet (why?)
4b) hashtags
5) One way to squash bad behavior: shame it. Make them feel bad for it. Criticize them. It works wonders on some people (although it is completely ineffective on others).

 

[Tim Paitz]

NBC is full of liars like Lyin' Brian Williams.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

Someone on another forum made the point that the particular reporter/producer's use of the wording was probably not meant as a critique of the warning process that day. Rather it was more likely intended as a adjective phrase to describe the sudden impact of a tornado. I don't like it, it's overused, and it can definitely come across as an attempt to denigrate the forecasts/warnings, but that's probably not what it was supposed to be.

http://www.talkweather.com/forums/index.php?/topic/61700-severe-threat-feb-1-3/?p=1015272

 

[Robert Forry]

They (the Lame-Streamers) do this with every outbreak. I know this because I've missed a few of them over the years and have been home to tune in. Hell, I still have it on DVR of Brian Williams saying the same thing from a few years ago. They're just reading words off a teleprompter some pimple faced intern wrote out. I don't see this on Fox News and don't watch CNN or MSNBC. By now you'd think most of these guys/gals would have some basic understanding of the warning process. Guess not, or they're just not at liberty to say "really, no warning? Come on now!"

 

[rdale]

Did anyone here see it? From one comment I saw - the "without warning" was referring to how fast tornadoes change lives forever and not the NWS alerting process.

 

[rdale]

The story writers were on WeatherBrains this week. Their intent was to explain that lives were upheaved with little "advance notice" (I.e. Nobody wakes up thinking today is the day their house gets wiped out, no matter what the risk.) They did not know that network HQ reworded.