I'm going to make a stretch and attempt to apologize for the way someone else phrased their comment. "Media Hype" is probably a poorly chosen combination of words that's all too commonly used in communication. When I watch you guys on the tube out there reporting on all the crap that's going on, when all the rest of us are either hauling ass to get out of there or sitting at home watching the whole thing unfold before us, I honestly get choked up. Sure, it's your job. Most of us do things that others don't understand why, when it's only a pay check. But I'm always impressed by those that go in when everyone else says "get out."
Police, firemen, first responders all get the commendation they deserve, but without you guys, the rest of us wouldn't know about it. Whether it's in the eye of a hurricane or in a convoy in Iraq or middle of a forest fire or whatever, the media sends men and women into the middle of it to let the rest of us know just what's going on as it happens. That's why it's call NEWS.
That said, sadly, you guys take the hit for the term "Media Hype". Reality, it's the ratings driven by our own thirst for excitement that give us what we all too often see. It's not you guys, but the editors, the advertisers, or any number of people in another area of the media that determines what we see and know as truth.
What we see as media hype is when the news shows us the tragedy of New Orleans, but misses the horror of those on the north shore. We see the casinos on the beach of Biloxi washed ashore, but fail to give much notice to the smaller towns that are absolutely no longer there...along with many of the people that once lived there.
Rita ripped the hell out of southwest Louisiana and the southeast portion of Texas. But how much more coverage would it have gotten had it hit the Houston area, or had Katrina not just slapped the crap out of the other end of Louisiana and Mississippi only a month before? That's not your fault or even the guys who make the decisions off what segment of film we see, but ours.
There has been virtually no coverage of the flooding in south Lousiana as a result of Rita. Again, that's not your fault, but the devastation is greater than that of Katrina.
I'm sorry you took offense to another writer's comments. I assume he meant no harm. As I'd said before, I probably shouldn't have used this forum to discuss a tragedy such as this, but that's done now.
We often forget that these things don't just do damage to anonymous people, but to people we know and care about that are a part of our sport. Shamefully, we forget that some of us have to go in and do their job and risk their lives just to keep us abreast of the horrors that transpire.
I'm sorry you were offended. I hope you and your crew weren't hurt in the storm. We need guys like you to let us know what's going on, 'cause Lord only knows, we won't do it.
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