Pet peeve #348: Helping out the news networks

Here’s another entry from the pet peeve vault.

On a handful of occasions each year, we have what are known as “weather events.” In Virginia, they come in two main categories: hurricanes, which normally come through in August and September; and “snow storms,” which hit in the winter months, but in most cases yield only enough snow to be a nuisance to commuters.

Naturally, when a “weather event” is on the horizon, I, like most people, tune in to the local TV station to get the latest news, forecasts, and helpful tips, such as the need to stock up on water, gasoline, and movies from Blockbuster. One thing I have noticed recently as I watch the local networks is their increasingly frequent plea for viewers to send in pictures of the weather event. “Eyewitness news asks you, the viewer, to send us your pictures of Flake Frenzy 2010 [the events now often come with their own unique titles, as if the storm is a made-for-TV movie]. Just e-mail them to us at eyewitness@news.com,” or some such.

I have always found these requests to be very curious. First of all, I find myself thinking, “Wait a minute. In one breath you are warning me about these life-threatening conditions that I am about to face. I’d better hunker down and brace for shock. Then, in the next breath, you are telling me to get right out there and take some happy-snaps for good ol’ Eyewitness News, my trusted friend who is always there for me in the information era.” I feel I am getting some mixed signals here.

The other thing is, and call me an old curmudgeon if you must, but, isn’t it their job to send out reporters to take pictures of the weather event? I already have a forty-hour-a-week job, and if I am not at work due to an impending storm, I am at home battening down the hatches. Or, in the case of yet another “significant snow event” that amounts to two inches of accumulation, I am slipping and sliding my way to work, trying to dodge all the accidents as I go. The last thing on my mind is gathering up my camera and heading out into danger, like I’m Jimmy Olsen working for the Daily Planet or something.

I have been tempted to take a few pictures and send them in with the following e-mail:

Dear Eyewitness News,

I am grateful for the opportunity to help you out during the current natural disaster by providing ad hoc photojournalism services to your network. The requested photos are attached. However, having helped you out with your job, I am going to need the Eyewitness News staff to render services in kind, namely, I will need someone from the news team to cover my staff meeting next Monday morning, as well as to finish my monthly reports due out next Thursday. Your reciprocity in this matter is much appreciated.

All right, all right. I know. The networks want us to send in pictures largely for human interest reasons. But, for me, I don’t tune in to see little Susie’s snow angels in Suffolk or the big tree that fell on Hubert’s car out in Windsor. I tune in to get information about the “weather event,” not to see a bunch of fluff. The networks can send out reporters to get all of the human interest photos they want.

Yes, it’s a pet peeve, a particular vexation, a personal bugbear. But, really, why don’t they just do their job, and I’ll do my job, and we leave it at that?