Why Reporters On The Beach During Hurricanes Is A Bad Idea

The tropics are quiet at the moment. There's no tropical storms or hurricanes lurking in the Atlantic Ocean that might cause havoc somewhere in the United States.

Another journalist  having a tough go of it
reporting live from a hurricane.  

But almost inevitably, sometime between now and the end of November, a hurricane will menace the coast somewhere between Brownsville, Texas and Eastport, Maine. That's a lot of potential targets.

And a lot of potential places for reporters to make fools of themselves. Because every time there's a hurricane, hordes of reporters tell us to flee the beach to get away from the dangerous hurricane.

They all tell us this while standing on the very beaches they've told us to get away from. And getting blown over. Or knocked over by a wave. Or having idiots streaking behind them on camera.

I get it. The reporters and camera people and news directors want to show us how powerful the storm is, its destructive potential, its drama.

Plus, riveting videos of storms are ratings bonanzas. Heck, why do you think I post wild videos and pictures of storms and other extreme events in this blog?  People like it, and I like showing it.

Plus, hurricanes are not that complicated a story to cover, really.

It's not like a hurricane is going to refuse comment when approached by a reporter. And the reporter doesn't have to dig through dense government documents to get the story. It's right there, unfolding before their eyes. The newsgathering in hurricanes is easy and cheap and thrilling.

To be fair, reporting live from a storm is a huge rush, and many news organizations take precautions to protect journalists from especially dangerous moments in these storms. 

Still, this tradition of standing on the beach during a hurricane might end the day a two by four flying in the wind will smashed through the skull of a reporter doing a live report. I hope that doesn't happen, but I fear it will.

We lost some storm chasers during an Oklahoma tornado earlier this year, and there's no reason we won't lose a reporter to a hurricane, unfortunately.

At the very least, reporting live from a hurricane isn't a terribly dignified exercise. Watch this hurricane reporter fail compilation video to fully understand why: