It happens every winter (part 2)

It happens every winter (part 2) January 24, 2004

In the previous post, I defend "soft" stories on winter weather as a comforting ritual.

But having said that, such soft stories can also be the boring output of bored journalists, following a boring routine. These stories practically write themselves and — whether from boredom or laziness — reporters and local desk editors often seem content with the generic, cookie-cutter winter story:

1. Passive voice introduction: The region was hit/struck/blanketed …

2. Quote from pedestrian/dog-walker: It's really cold out here …

3. Quote from National Weather Service meteorologist: Yes, in fact, it is really cold out there …

4. (optional) Advice from "experts": Dress in layers, lift with your legs, stay inside …

5. Five-day forecast.

The ease with which such stories can be produced distracts newspapers from doing the actual work of finding some of the actual stories — those of people for whom winter weather entails more than inconvenience.

Think of those who work outside or on the roads — utility line workers, truckers or those unfortunate water company workers who wade through cold water in cold weather to repair the inevitable water main breaks (I can't imagine those guys are overpaid). Winter weather is more than just an inconvenience for such people. Telling their stories may entail more work for reporters — their phone numbers probably aren't there in the rolodex — but they have real stories that are worth telling.

Or consider the poor. Driving back from Vermont last week I heard NPR reports from throughout New England that this winter's budget for LIHEAP (the Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program) is nearly exhausted — and we're not even through January yet. That's big news for low-income families who now face either a frigid February or deeper debt come spring. A Google news search on "LIHEAP" shows a trickle of reporting on this issue, but it's not getting anywhere near the high-profile coverage that our "Gee, it's cold" puff pieces get on a regular basis.


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