Folks can be nuts
Her producer made the decision to put her on the air. So ... he/she ought to step up here.
We live in the ATL ‘metro’ ... sorta.
We had typical Spring weather with a cold front passage. It ranged from moderate showers to [GASP] strong thunderstorms with gusty winds. Considering this front DID produce deadly tornadoes west of us, it’s not unreasonable to provide warnings of real threats. So kudos to the network.
BUT!! they tend to be chicken little on these interruptions instead of telling viewers where an actual risk is, AND they take too long to do it. I don’t need to know where every Doppler indication of rotation is, actually, with 5 minutes of storm path forecasts. But then again there ARE lots of viewers who have no clue about Spring weather in the South.
No justification for death threats, but they could have done a crawl across the bottom AND done the weather bit in the insert. Plus most folks I know get severe weather warnings (legit ones) on their smart phones that are quite location specific.
Anyways ... lighten up folks.
I don’t like golf, actually know little of it but people love it
I know longer will watch an NFL game. Yeah they got better but not enough.
But if they cut to a meteorologist during the World Series I’d have a fit.
What they do, do around here is scroll a red warning for severe weather giving the locations of possible dangerous situations.
That should have been the choice in this situation.
If true this is beyond disgusting. If this is a Jussie Smollett deal....
TV weather reporting has become ridiculous. Our local NBC affiliate now does 4 weather segments in a half hour 10 pm newscast.
Ella Dorsey would make any golfer put down his clubs.
Meteorologists dont always have the say when they go on the air.
In most markets, they would put up a banner or reduce the screen box and wrap the announcement around the screen.
I would never suggest that someone die for a TV programming decision. But there are ways to get the message out to the masses without interrupting the program entirely.
I actually find it sad that anyone would sacrifice several hours of spring daylight to watch others play golf on tv.
Local television stations are not interested in safety, they are interested in getting the biggest ratings for their local news programs. That translates into money. Some years ago, the Kansas City stations preempted all programming, including golf to bring us live reporting of tornadoes east of the city. They got their helicopters and their remote rigs into a chase for an elusive tornado but in the end, they only found a few blue tarps covering damaged barn and machine shed roofs. They weren’t trying to warn the public, they wanted footage of destruction and hopefully injured people.
Meanwhile, to the south, the city of Joplin was practically wiped off the map. Zero reports, zero warnings, zero film at eleven because they were all chasing the wrong storm.
I can totally believe this. Sportsball fans can be crazy.
Ella Dorsey is STUNNING!
Not egregious enough for death threats. Maybe they should just use the scroll next time.
We had the same issues during the Final Four. We had to go to the ncaa.com site and stream it.
This happens all the time (and has for years), as I can attest, as a veteran of the broadcasting salt mines. Viewers want to watch their favorite shows, or special programming, like coverage of the Master’s. Local stations are licensed to serve the community and they see continuous severe weather coverage as one way to meet that obligation. Heck, even when I worked in local radio 30+ years ago, we’d get phone calls if we aired EBS (now EAS) alerts, which were required by federal law, or read more than just the bare-bone details of a weather bulletin. Invariably, they’d say “it doesn’t affect me.” Of course, if the storm was heading their way, it was a different story.
Actually, I can declare a pox on both of their houses. One reason location stations go wall-to-wall with severe weather coverage is because of the ratings bump. On average, a station will get a 15-20% increase in viewership, and some of that audience will stick around when they return to local programming. And, if your chief meteorologist is a market icon (like James Spann in Birmingham), the ratings boost is even bigger.
Also, let’s face it, some of the coverage is over-hyped. These days, every station has a SuperMaxDopplerStormTracker9Million radar, but they don’t tell you that most are simply taking a feed off the nearest National Weather Service WSR-88D Doppler Radar, and the info on our screen may be five minutes old (or more dated) as its presented to viewers. A tornado traveling at 50 mph can cover a lot of territory in that time. I’m also amused by meteorologists who highlight every rotation marker as a possible tornado. The station my wife favors has a history of doing that; I always make a point to switching to another station (with a better trained weather staff) who can offer a less breathless assessment of the situation.
As for the viewers, they have options, too. If your favorite show isn’t on the local station, pretty good chance you can watch it through an app on your phone and/or a streaming service. Not much of a golf fan, but I kept up with the Master’s on the CBS sports app. No reason those dimwits in Georgia couldn’t have done the same thing. Also, many stations operate more than one channel; in a situation like the one that arose Sunday, broadcasters could have pushed regular programming to the sister station or even social media. And when all else fails, the old “split screen” technique still works.
Lastly, the claims of death threats against that Atlanta meteorologist may actually be a career enhancer. Ms. Dorsey works for CBS46, the bottom feeder in the local market. The day after her coverage (and reported death threats), the station fired its chief meteorologist, Paul Ossman, clearing the way for Ms. Dorsey to possibly assume the top spot. Ironically, those death threats will create a little more hype for a station that needs all the promotion, publicity (and viewers) it can muster.
Any death threats made against Ms Dorsey should be thoroughly investigated, and the perps brought to justice. It will be interesting to see what happens on that “front” in the coming days.
The same idiots are probably pissed when the bad weather horn stops play...not the typical golf fans...
Just reminded me of the joke about how golfers could stay safe in a thunderstorm by holding a 1 iron over their heads...because not even God can hit a 1 iron.
Although I did see Jack Nicklaus hit a good one some years ago...which reminds me of another joke.
Jesus is golfing a round with St. Peter as His caddy.
They come to a water hole which requires a 195 yard carry to clear the pond. St. Peter hands Jesus a 5 iron and Jesus hands it back and asks for a 6 iron.
St. Peter exclaims that even Jack Nicklaus couldn’t clear the water with a 6 iron (older times). Jesus insists and sure enough hits it in the drink.
Jesus is walking on the pond looking for his ball when a couple golfers pull up in their cart and ask who He thinks He is, Jesus Christ?
St. Peter ruefully shakes his head and says, “Nope, Jack Nicklaus”.
IIRC the O.J. Chase interrupted the NBA Finals.
It also provided one of the greatest moments in TV history, Captain Jenks fake call to Peter Jennings, Al Michaels’ reaction was priceless.
It’s the internet. Does anyone not get death threats?