Whenever there’s a severe local weather event, networks send out reporters (sometimes way too many reporters) into the streets to show what the conditions look like. But that practice takes a fair bit of criticism as well, as to many of us, it seems a bit silly to be putting reporters and camera operators in harsh (and possibly dangerous) conditions just for the sake of some TV images. The latest debate there comes from the blizzard hitting the Canadian province of Newfoundland (and much of the rest of Eastern Canada), which saw The Weather Network/CBC News Network meteorologist Chris Murphy (not to be confused with Canadian musician Chris Murphy of Sloan) blown over in the middle of a report from St. John’s, Newfoundland on CBCNN’s Power and Politics Thursday:
.@MurphTWN gets hit by a gust of wind in St.John’s, as a raging blizzard brings eastern Newfoundland to a standstill (He's OK). Read the lastest about the storm here: https://t.co/TzvbyqyXOJ pic.twitter.com/NV1MFHfws7
— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) January 17, 2020
That’s one of the more amazing shots of a weather report you’ll see, with Murphy literally knocked over by the wind (which he later mentions was reaching up to 120 kilometres, or 75 miles, an hour) around the 0:10 mark. He goes on to say “I’m okay, the wind just blew me down,” so fortunately, this didn’t seem too disastrous in the long run. And for the record, here’s his full report:
Watch @MurphTWN’s full report about the situation on the ground in St. John's pic.twitter.com/L0NwopB7zC
— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) January 17, 2020
In any case, while it’s good to hear that Murphy came out of this okay, this certainly adds to the whole conversation about if it’s worth it to send reporters and camera operators into extreme conditions.
[Power and Politics on Twitter]
