Why is it that so many journalists and broadcasters today opt for the obvious and easy clichés rather than provide meaningful and informative coverage?
This is a point I have ranted on about when I do the TV public affairs show Behind the Story and it never seems to change. (Maybe that’s a good thing, or else what would I have to rant about?).
Anyway, this little sound bite from a weather broadcast this morning bothered me. OK, I might be a bit cranky because of the heat and it might be minor, but it still seems ridiculous. Here we are in the middle of a heat wave with high humidity. So what do the Ken and Barbie talking heads on radio and TV always tell us after they’ve highlighted the temperatures and humidex forecasts? “It’s cooler by the lake?”
D’ya think!?
Why else do we go to the lake? Why do you think property is so desirable ‘by the lake’? Why is there such a crush of motorists heading up to cottage country in the middle of the heat wave—because it’s hotter and more humid by the lake?
I shake my head sometimes and wonder if these guys really review their scripts before broadcasting. It is a sad but true fact that too often, it’s easier to haul out the old bromides and jabber on with them than to either provide new and pertinent information or simply drop the obvious.
Sloppy journalism—which I will continue to highlight in this blog—is a pandemic today. Had I written or broadcast some of this stuff while at Ryerson, I never would have passed (and certainly not with honours).
Now pardon me while I try to seek relief from some of the sweltering heat. I hear it’s cooler by the lake.
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