{"id":35123,"date":"2013-06-02T21:01:23","date_gmt":"2013-06-02T21:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fredbortz.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=35123"},"modified":"2013-06-02T21:01:23","modified_gmt":"2013-06-02T21:01:23","slug":"tornado-chasers-and-tv-networks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/fredbortz\/35123\/tornado-chasers-and-tv-networks\/","title":{"rendered":"Tornado Chasers and TV Networks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past two weeks, the Oklahoma City area has been hit by two tragic tornados, and although the first one was more deadly, the second one provides us with the more important lessons.<\/p>\n

In the first one, which struck the city of Moore, was classified as in the most powerful range (EF-5). The largest cluster of deaths were, unfortunately, eight people in a school that took a direct hit. It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They staff of the school did its best to keep everyone safe, but there was no tornado shelter.<\/p>\n

What bothered me most about the news coverage was the focus on people who picked their kids up at school and went driving away. These people were not smart, but lucky, since they actually put their kids at greater risk.<\/p>\n

I had to wonder if that coverage was responsible for the large number of people out on the road in the most recent outbreak. As noted meteorologist Matt Daniel notes in his blog at EarthSky, eight of the nine people who died during that outbreak were in cars<\/A>.<\/p>\n


\nThat outbreak splashed this picture of the Weather Channel Tornado Hunt 2013 car that was caught in a tornado all over the Internet. Fortunately, the reporters survived, not because of skill but pure luck. Tim Samaras of the Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers, his son, and storm chaser Carl Young, were not so lucky. They lost their lives when a storm cell blossomed into a tornado that they were unable to escape.<\/p>\n

The fact that major networks see fit to have tornado chase cars is an important issue. Professional tornado chasing should have only one purpose: research.<\/strong> If Tim was doing research, then he lost his life taking a risk he understood for benefits he also understood. But if he was doing it for a TV network, then you have to question the value of his activity. Those deaths will be in vain if we don’t learn from them, and that requires asking the hard question about his motivation. That is not disrespectful, but it is painful, especially in the moment. We need to acknowledge both the pain and the importance.<\/p>\n

Did Samaras need network money to fund his research and thus take unnecessary risks? If so, that says a lot about the state of meteorology research funding. I will be looking for information that sheds light on why he took a risk that ultimately cost him his life.<\/p>\n

But I have little doubt that about the journalistic value of having storm chasers. It is zero. Having a storm-chasing vehicle allows the networks to get sensational images that add nothing to the news story but attract “eyeballs”. First responders don’t permit journalists to enter burning buildings because of the pointless risk to themselves and the possibility that they will get in the way of the firefighters. The same should be true in the case of storm chasing by networks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past two weeks, the Oklahoma City area has been hit by two tragic tornados, and although the first one was more deadly, the second one provides us with the more important lessons. In the first one, which struck the city of Moore, was classified as in the most powerful range (EF-5). The largest … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,19,21],"tags":[43,45,44],"class_list":["post-35123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-earth-science-and-weather","category-science-and-public-policy","category-science-technology-and-society","tag-oklahoma","tag-television","tag-tornado"],"yoast_head":"\nTornado Chasers and TV Networks - Fred Bortz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/fredbortz\/35123\/tornado-chasers-and-tv-networks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tornado Chasers and TV Networks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the past two weeks, the Oklahoma City area has been hit by two tragic tornados, and although the first one was more deadly, the second one provides us with the more important lessons. 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