Hurricane Sandy - "Perfect Storm"

[Stanley Edwards]

Absolutely agree

The other point that hasn't really been touched upon yet is the vulnerability issue. Here are Millions of 'everyday' people just like others in the Western World who lived safe, convenient lives in nice towns and cities with all mod cons. Suddenly Mother Nature explodes and makes us all realise we are just as vulnerable as people in less developed countries.

All to easy to distance ourselves from earthquakes in Turkey, or tropical storms on tropical islands, but now a new weather threat may be making everyone feel a bit vulnerable. The media will play on this fear of course for even more sensationalism.

Now it isn't even safe to stay at home and watch TV!

 

[Kidda]

What I am questioning is the priorities of a news service that sees events in the USA as worthy of hysterical 24 hour coverage akin to an asteroid strike whilst totally ignoring events of much greater tragedy when they occur outside the US.

Of course this is newsworthy and of course it is tragic to those involved. It is the extent and the manner of the coverage that I am questioning.

What do you expect its America, someone farts at the Oscars and its headline news in seconds with millions of minor faces wanting to deconstruct each and every gas, smell and taste that was released. Something happens in another country and it will barely get a mention. It's really not a surprise. This is not the first event to have this much coverage and won't be the last.

Hurricane Katrina showed us that people can still suffer immense hardship and destruction even in the wealthiest of countries. Surely thats the real issue here.

Most people are wondering whether this will be a repeat of New Orleans.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

What I am questioning is the priorities of a news service that sees events in the USA as worthy of hysterical 24 hour coverage akin to an asteroid strike whilst totally ignoring events of much greater tragedy when they occur outside the US.

Of course this is newsworthy and of course it is tragic to those involved. It is the extent and the manner of the coverage that I am questioning.

Perhaps you should take that issue up with the news services you see doing that, rather than Miss Caphat. It would be both kinder and more constructive.

 

[dylans]

Perhaps you should take that issue up with the news services you see doing that, rather than Miss Caphat. It would be both kinder and more constructive.

I have no argument with her. My remarks have all been aimed at questioning the media's priorities

 

[Maurice Picarda]

It's all been rather disappointing so far. I think I was expecting monsters from the deep to take possession of the city and feast on the fleeing multitudes. Twitpics of streets with water washing demurely around car tyres don't really cut it.

 

[DotCommunist]

It's all been rather disappointing so far. I think I was expecting monsters from the deep to take possession of the city and feast on the fleeing multitudes. Twitpics of streets with water washing demurely around car tyres don't really cut it.

they chained cthullu in te pentagram /gon and feed it souls

 

[Balbi]

How high is the water ma / three feet high and r'lyeh.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

It's all been rather disappointing so far. I think I was expecting monsters from the deep to take possession of the city and feast on the fleeing multitudes. Twitpics of streets with water washing demurely around car tyres don't really cut it.

We'll try to do better next time.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Thank you.

 

[where to]

Katrina is worth mentioning as its coverage was more proportionate.

This one is getting Katrina style (if perhaps not quantity) coverage for something comparatively minor.

 

[elbows]

Not bad enought to consider changing the cities name back to New Amsterdam then?

 

[dylans]

A cyclone, Cyclone Nilan, is expected to hit India tomorrow. I am sure the media will pay it as much attention as they are giving Hurricane Sandy.

Cyclone Nilam is swirling about 500 kilometers, or 310 miles, off the east coast of southern India.
The cyclone, which is expected to make landfall Wednesday afternoon or evening between the district of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, could carry winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, meteorologists said. Schools and colleges are closed in Chennai, and officials warned local fisherman to stay on the land.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

A cyclone, Cyclone Nilan, is expected to hit India tomorrow. I am sure the media will pay it as much attention as they are giving Hurricane Sandy.

I've created a separate thread on the topic of the media. It deserves its own place.

 

[DotCommunist]

Nilan is a name that should be prefacing 'mild inconvenience Nilan' or maybe ''Careful, there may be dislodged rooftilles Nilan'

They need to start calling hurricanes by meatier names. 'Today, Fuckyou destroyed an entire city block'

 

[Stanley Edwards]

A cyclone, Cyclone Nilan, is expected to hit India tomorrow. I am sure the media will pay it as much attention as they are giving Hurricane Sandy.

Whilst I agree with many points you make you are forgetting that Cyclones always happen in India and it is a long way away. It will be disasterous, but not exceptionally unusual - not news.

The main point being spun on Sandy is that it is exceptional, or perhaps more precisely - used to be exceptional, but is now becomming more common in the US.

 

[lizzieloo]

I've created a separate thread on the topic of the media. It deserves its own place.

So we all have to repeat what we have said there? We're having the discussion here.

 

[dylans]

Whilst I agree with many points you make you are forgetting that Cyclones always happen in India and it is a long way away. It will be disasterous, but not exceptionally unusual - not news.

The main point being spun on Sandy is that it is exceptional, or perhaps more precisely - used to be exceptional, but is now becomming more common in the US.

What makes an event newsworthy is (should be) its uniqueness and its magnitude. Clearly some events do deserve the kind of coverage we have been seeing over this. I am thinking of the 2001 tsunami which really was a natural disaster of unprecedented magnitude, an event which was global in scale and which cost the lives of half a million people It seems to me however that this event was and is being hyped as something akin to that when it clearly isn't.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

... It seems to me however that this event was and is being hyped as something akin to that when it clearly isn't.

I don't think anyone here will disagree with that.

The point others (and myself) are trying to make is that we have no more control over the news than we do over the weather and natural disasters. Far more of us can relate to Sandy stories as they are being spun. What makes a disaster newsworthy is entirely beyond our control.

We all know worse things happen, but this is the event we are all being told about now. Sadly, the number of lives lost is less relevant than 'how close to home'.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It took Jimmy Savile off the news temporarily

 

[Corax]

What makes an event newsworthy is (should be) its uniqueness and its magnitude. Clearly some events do deserve the kind of coverage we have been seeing over this. I am thinking of the 2001 tsunami which really was a natural disaster of unprecedented magnitude, an event which was global in scale and which cost the lives of half a million people It seems to me however that this event was and is being hyped as something akin to that when it clearly isn't.

It's not like it's a new thing in the slightest though. Some wars are front page, some are invisible. Some disasters are covered in depth, some ignored. It's been the way forever, and seems to hinge largely on how much people are aware of the place. If British people live there, or go on holiday there, or watch TV programs made there, etc, it's big news. If not, it ain't. I'm not saying it's 'right', but it's not a new phenomenon.

"A major earthquake in Rulambistan killed 58 people today, including three Britons."

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

So we all have to repeat what we have said there? We're having the discussion here.

It looked like it was generating into one of those icky threads where people yell past one another rather than discuss. I thought I fresh thread would avoid that.

 

[DotCommunist]

Man on the radio kept pronouncing it as 'hurricane Samedi' earlier and all I could think was 'rain rain down on the man'

 

[sleaterkinney]

It's a massive storm hitting one of the most famous cities in the world, why shouldn't there be a lot of coverage?

 

[Greebo]

It took Jimmy Savile off the news temporarily

Small mercies and all that.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Small mercies and all that.

Exactly. Sick of looking at his mug

I think today's the first day in ages I've not seen him

 

[Greebo]

Exactly. Sick of looking at his mug

I think today's the first day in ages I've not seen him

The same here, until I was silly enough to check the German press.

 

[Manter]

Exactly. Sick of looking at his mug

I think today's the first day in ages I've not seen him

And quite bored of the endless reporting of three facts with increasingly complex speculation round them. Report something when you have something new to say!!!

 

[Corax]

Exactly. Sick of looking at his mug

I think today's the first day in ages I've not seen him

HTH.

 

[Manter]

The same here, until I was silly enough to check the German press.

I read them on a plane this morning, and they were all about Sandy.... I clouding the slightly bizarre Ferienparadies in Ruinen.... Have I yet again missed something

 

[Greebo]

<snip>HTH.

'RAX!!!!!