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So, why are we not closing stations for scheduled code red days on normal weather? They are lying to the public, but it doesn't seem there are any consequences for them, only for the employees that object to the lying.
TV meteorologist objected to management’s ‘code red’ orders
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Re: TV meteorologist objected to management’s ‘code red’ orders
#22[flagged]
Sinclair media owns most local TV stations in the US and uses them to shape public discourse in less-than-ethical ways. I think when local news has gotten as consolidated as it is, it ought to have some kind of obligation to the public, and shouldn't be able to hide behind "it's a private company" to justify bad behavior. John Oliver did an informative bit on Sinclair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvtNyOzGogc
Yes - that is why I ended my post with /censorship_apologist - to indicate it was meant to mock common arguments for censorship.
Arguments that are only invoked when the speech being censored is unpopular.
Re: TV meteorologist objected to management’s ‘code red’ orders
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since the term has no real meaning, maybe desensitizing people to it by overusing it is the best outcome. I'd honestly be surprised if people acted on these faux alerts. I think folks are pretty used to local stations claiming just about everything is urgent, breaking, and important.
The problem is that people who've gotten desensitized to fake Red Alerts, are also going to be skeptical when the National Weather Service issues real alerts, because most people can't tell the difference. Do you know what specific terms the weather service uses for real alerts? I sure don't.
As it happens, I do. NWS alerts are either "watch" or "warning." I have a radio for alerts. The weather alerts are by type (flooding, thunderstorm, tornado) and severity (watch or warning). I've disabled everything but tornado warning (not watch) on my radio. That means a tornado has been spotted and I want it to wake me up so I can get my family into the basement.
There is a separate system for sending alerts to cell phones:
Re: TV meteorologist objected to management’s ‘code red’ orders
#24"Code red?" That doesn't even mean anything! Where is the word "weather" in that? Or "severe?" Or whatever it is that they're pretending to convey? This is about as cravenly stupid as California's "red flag alert." WTF does that mean? Red flags will be falling from the sky, snarling traffic and causing mayhem? Human stupidity is boundless.
“Red flag” actual has a legal meaning in California. Several places have restrictions that come into effect on Red Flag fire days, including no parking areas where vehicles can be preemptively towed because they may impede the fire trucks.
Re: TV meteorologist objected to management’s ‘code red’ orders
#25Living in the northeast US I have never heard of a “code red day”. Is this a regional thing?
Re: TV meteorologist objected to management’s ‘code red’ orders
#26I guess I'm not super concerned, because I stopped watching TV news a long long time ago. In general they do everything they can to spread fear, and this is just an extension of that.
Does it worry you that this kind of fear-mongering might be bad for society even if it doesn't impact you personally? You might not watch the local news, but many other people do.
It's just corporate media who no longer cares about informing the public in seek of profits. It guarantees a watcher all day to consume ads, on edge about extreme events to stay tuned and consume ads, while also normalizing severity. These things are already put out on TV, Radio, and over many SAME alerts by NWS in the event that there is a real emergency. There is also the easy to read convective outlook.
Re: TV meteorologist objected to management’s ‘code red’ orders
#27>Crain was not seen delivering the weather on air Thursday morning, and his bio has since been removed from the company site. Torossian declined to discuss Crain’s employment status Friday afternoon, stating that “our policy is to not comment on individual personnel matters.”
Christ its as if someones exhumed the corpse of Stalin.
Re: TV meteorologist objected to management’s ‘code red’ orders
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is that people who've gotten desensitized to fake Red Alerts, are also going to be skeptical when the National Weather Service issues real alerts, because most people can't tell the difference. Do you know what specific terms the weather service uses for real alerts? I sure don't.
As it happens, I do. NWS alerts are either "watch" or "warning." I have a radio for alerts. The weather alerts are by type (flooding, thunderstorm, tornado) and severity (watch or warning). I've disabled everything but tornado warning (not watch) on my radio. That means a tornado has been spotted and I want it to wake me up so I can get my family into the basement. https://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/ There is a separate sy…
That's just you though. And me. Probably most HNers too. But our parents or friends? For many of them, it's all the same, some folks in telly communicating warnings they divined via arcane magic and satellites.
Re: TV meteorologist objected to management’s ‘code red’ orders
#29I see this going in the direction of hiring models to deliver a fully-scripted weather report full of ads and politics and sex appeal with almost zero weather-related content.
Re: TV meteorologist objected to management’s ‘code red’ orders
#30AFAICT there's no universally agreed upon meteorological definition for "code red day." Rather, this is just something Sinclair made up for "risk of severe weather." A "code red" is also used to refer to air quality[1]. And fire risk[2]. There's also the CodeRED alert system[3]. So since this is just made up by Sinclair and doesn't have any technical definiton, what's this guy complaining about? This is Sinclair afte…
Don't forget that awful Mountain Dew product, which is still the first thing I think of as 'code red' to this day...