A lot has been made over the years about media bias, especially as it relates to politics. Somebody is always breaking down a news report, looking for key words or angles that are questionably liberal or conservative. This is really stupid, because even if it is true (and Fox News, I'm looking at you again), the last I checked everyone has the free will to made up their own mind. (Exception: Those who watch Fox News seem inclined to just swallow anything that Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity will say.)
But when it comes to one topic - weather - there is no doubt that we have media bias. To wit, this week the top story on the national morning news shows was always Hurricane Earl. Even when Earl was just a baby storm thousands of miles from the U.S. east coast, we were so very concerned about the threat. Now that it's scraping along the east-northeastern seaboard as an average-sized hurricane, it's like the end of the world.
So we have a storm, with literally days to prepare for, that may or may not affect the U.S., but that doesn't matter. The east coast has the largest population concentration - also TV viewers - in the country, and the east coast based networks need to make sure the nation knows about a potential weather event that might ruin their Labor Day weekend plans.
Note to news media: THE OTHER 99% OF THE COUNTRY DOESN'T CARE ABOUT HURRICANE EARL. It's had to imagine how anyone taking precautions would be harmed by this storm, yet in places like the Midwest we lose lives and property to sudden weather events all of the time. Ever see that get this much media coverage? Of course not.
It doesn't matter if it's weather, or news, or sports, the east coasters are the drama queens of the U.S. We've got real issues to talk about that impact the entire country, maybe we could focus on that?
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