[Mack184]

I see this as 3 major problems.

1) Filling up a half hour news program is no problem. There's only about 20 minutes of actual content. What is the problem is that we now have many 24 hour news/weather channels. They run continually without changes in programming 24/7. THAT'S a LOT of time to fill up. Many things that used to get no attention at all are now given major attention just because the news operations need to fill up space. I've done a few local radio talk shows over the years. If your show is not guest or monologue driven and is reliant on callers..2 minutes without a call is an eternity. 24 hours to fill with news is unfathomable.

2) The majority of the national news staffs & editors have no judgement because they lack basic experience. Having spent nearly 40 years in broadcasting I can personally attest to this. There used to be a pecking order and "farm system" in the news business. New grads went to work for small town news papers & radio stations and spent their time learning a community and reporting on exciting things like school board meetings, Rotary Club gatherings & town board meetings. They got lots of butt-kicking by grizzled old editors & news directors who MADE them get their facts straight and their writing correct. They moved from larger town to larger town to move up the ladder. Today you have green grads being hired right out of school to work on national-level networks with virtually no real reporting experience. Unfortunately these people are working for editors who've only been around for a little longer than they have. There are few people around with many years of hard experience. So virtually everything that comes along is treated with great urgency, where 20 years ago it wouldn't have been even considered, or an experienced editor would have spiked the story or demanded a re-write.

3) Unfortunately there are TONS of desperately stupid people out there today who now need step-by-step insturctions on how to come in from out of the rain. One of my instructors at broadcast school used to tell us to stay away from "mother-in-law" broadcasting. What he meant was to stifle the urge to tell people common-sense things like reminding people to "drive safely" during a howling blizzard. Treat your listeners with respect and not as dummies. What's truly unfortunate is that far, far, far too many people these days are just dumb as rocks. and need to be told to drive safely or to stay home during a blizzard or flood.

I agree with the poster who said that when you cry wolf so often & so loudly the time will come when nobody will pay any attention and when a TRULY bad storm or situation comes along nobody will believe it.

It's February..It's snowing hard in Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Dakota, upstate NY, or Michigan. This is news????