In class today we talked about Bourdieu's article, "On Television". I liked the point that was brought up about making everything exciting on television. The example of the Weather Channel was given and I started to think about it. I think it is pretty funny how a spectacle is made out of the weather. I was doing an internship at Wesh 2 News last semester. One night, before the 11 o'clock news, a siren went off and the anchors took off, sprinting towards the studio. I sat there, confused at what had just happened and I was told that there was a tornado warning in the area. I understood completely why they would want to get on the air to warn people, but they stayed on the air for a good hour and a half, for practically nothing. Not to mention I was the one who had to take the angry phone calls from the viewers who were missing the season debut of the Office.
Anyway, as I was watching the anchors, they kept being extremely concerned and saying the same information over and over. I asked why they were staying on the air for so long and someone told me that it was policy. I personally think that the news company thought they would get more ratings by making a small weather warning look like a catastrophe. Because this event only happens a couple times a year, they knew that they would get some excitement into the program by following the tornado minute by minute. I guess this way is more exciting, but the anchors should try to change it up, not always follow the old journalistic ways that have worked throughout the past.
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