Water blogged
I couldn't help noticing while watching both ITV and BBC news reports on the flooding last night that both news channels seem to be trying to outdo each other in "total immersion" TV coverage.
If they weren't up in their helicopters they were thigh deep in brown water. Wellies and a mac simply aren't enough for the intrepid flood reporter. But why stop at thigh waders? I'm surprised that a BBC requisition for breast waders hasn't gone out yet to get its news teams even deeper in to the story.
A smug ITV reporter stole a march last night, however, by reporting from his canoe. I'm wondering, given the BBC's reputation for honesty, whether there might be extra crew among the outdoor units with wind makers and buckets of water to ensure weather extremes on camera.
The BBC even had its weatherman out on the streets of Gloucester yesterday. Is this a kind of punishment, the sort that shoots the messenger? I can imagine the producer saying: "You gave us this bloody weather so get out and get under it."
If they weren't up in their helicopters they were thigh deep in brown water. Wellies and a mac simply aren't enough for the intrepid flood reporter. But why stop at thigh waders? I'm surprised that a BBC requisition for breast waders hasn't gone out yet to get its news teams even deeper in to the story.
A smug ITV reporter stole a march last night, however, by reporting from his canoe. I'm wondering, given the BBC's reputation for honesty, whether there might be extra crew among the outdoor units with wind makers and buckets of water to ensure weather extremes on camera.
The BBC even had its weatherman out on the streets of Gloucester yesterday. Is this a kind of punishment, the sort that shoots the messenger? I can imagine the producer saying: "You gave us this bloody weather so get out and get under it."
Labels: BBC, canoe, flood, flooding, Gloucester, ITV, waders, weather, wellies
posted by Richard Donkin at
11:27 AM
1 Comments:
Given the issues of Carbon-Footprints and the continual hype from the media regarding our duty, as citizens, to ensure we keep our 'footprints' to a minimum, are the Media not being overly critical in flying their teams of brightly 'plumaged waders' from their summer breeding grounds to Gloucester and Tewkesbury, in order to 'add-value' to the reporting?
Additionally, coming from Gloucester, as a child in the 50's I distinctly remember my Mother showing me the 'High-Tide mark', from the 1947 floods, on the houses nearest the old Cattle-Market, it was well above the door lintels. The houses are about 1/2mile as the crow flies from the endangered sub-station,remind me why did the City Planners choose to build it on a known flood plain?
Apparently, "Never in living memory,have we witnessed such flooding"! Call me a cynic, but the water appears to be about 3-4 feet lower than in 1947!
we are not alone - Friend of mine, from Milan, rang today to find out if I was flooded out (we aren't) the Italian Media is equally as bad. In Italy, for the past 10-days, the big problem is 'Power Consumption' "We are using so many Gigawatts it is too much, we will collapse shortly, must cut Power usege by XX-Gigawatts. Never in living memory..." Etc
Virgilio asked "How many grandmothers would know what a gigawatt is let alone if we use more now..."
Mmmmmmm, 8,760 hours to fill, what 'breaking news have we got...?"
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