Attention Journalism Professors
Eleven months ago, after World News Tonight mistakenly reported there was "no warning" after a tornado struck Birmingham, I wrote,
This seems to confirm my suspicion that there is a key on journalists' word processors that says "there was no warning" and they simply press that key every time they have to do a story about storms.
This morning, in a story about last night's tornado, a reporter in Mobile wrote,
"but could anyone have predicted this?"
The posting immediately below answers that question with an emphatic YES! but that is not my main point.
Maybe it is asking too much to suggest praising meteorologists when we make excellent forecasts and warnings like the ones for yesterday's tornadoes. But, it is not too much to ask that journalists stop reporting/implying there was "no warning" when warnings were out.
This seems to confirm my suspicion that there is a key on journalists' word processors that says "there was no warning" and they simply press that key every time they have to do a story about storms.
This morning, in a story about last night's tornado, a reporter in Mobile wrote,
"but could anyone have predicted this?"
The posting immediately below answers that question with an emphatic YES! but that is not my main point.
Maybe it is asking too much to suggest praising meteorologists when we make excellent forecasts and warnings like the ones for yesterday's tornadoes. But, it is not too much to ask that journalists stop reporting/implying there was "no warning" when warnings were out.
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