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Jan. 28th, 2015 04:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randomnessMuch of the American national media narrative about this snowstorm went from doomsday prediction to finger pointing within 48 hours. From Boston and New England's point of view this is absurd. There, this storm is still going to be one of the ten biggest recorded snowstorms in history, and anyone minimizing that is a fool.
However, the media narrative is driven by what happened in New York, because that's where the media lives, as well as the fact that it's the biggest city in the United States. So the story covered was about why the forecast was "wrong" and why political leaders had decided to act according to that story and shut down the country's largest city.
One of the forecasters was quoted as saying that they had missed the track by 75 miles. That is still a pretty good weather prediction. But because the predicted track included the tri-state area, the storm actually being 75 miles east of the prediction meant that New York's experience went from "hit by storm" to "grazed by storm". 75 miles moves the snow bands from Central New Jersey to Central Connecticut. It happens that that changes life for around 20 million people.
As I wasn't in New England, I didn't get to watch New England Cable News. I would guess, however, that they didn't spend anywhere near as much time as the national news on the whole debate about the predicted track and New York being missed, and concentrated on the actual story in New England, the snowfall. And if New England were an independent country I would expect media coverage there to look much more like NECN, and the coverage in the neighboring country to concentrate on its own story.
Speaking of neighboring countries, here is the map The Weather Network showed for this storm on Tuesday:
At least on their maps weather doesn't stop at the border!
However, the media narrative is driven by what happened in New York, because that's where the media lives, as well as the fact that it's the biggest city in the United States. So the story covered was about why the forecast was "wrong" and why political leaders had decided to act according to that story and shut down the country's largest city.
One of the forecasters was quoted as saying that they had missed the track by 75 miles. That is still a pretty good weather prediction. But because the predicted track included the tri-state area, the storm actually being 75 miles east of the prediction meant that New York's experience went from "hit by storm" to "grazed by storm". 75 miles moves the snow bands from Central New Jersey to Central Connecticut. It happens that that changes life for around 20 million people.
As I wasn't in New England, I didn't get to watch New England Cable News. I would guess, however, that they didn't spend anywhere near as much time as the national news on the whole debate about the predicted track and New York being missed, and concentrated on the actual story in New England, the snowfall. And if New England were an independent country I would expect media coverage there to look much more like NECN, and the coverage in the neighboring country to concentrate on its own story.
Speaking of neighboring countries, here is the map The Weather Network showed for this storm on Tuesday:
At least on their maps weather doesn't stop at the border!