Tt post aug 29, 2017

"Screw the media."

What media orgs are you consuming? Who are you watching, reading, or listening to?

Apparently, my mileage has varied, at least with the coverage of Hurricane Harvey.

Regarding the media, I would differentiate between national and local news orgs.

In recent days, I've occasionally watched the live feed from KHOU, and I would say that those media people, especially the field reporters, have done spectacular work.

KHOU lost their studio on Sunday morning due to flooding, and they had to go off the air, but their live feed continued because sister station WFAA from Dallas filled in with their studio media people, but WFAA still had access to the KHOU field reporters for live updates from the Houston area.

KHOU came back on the air Sunday evening by using the studios at the Houston PBS station. But their signal would disappear at times due to rain fade from the heavy rainfall, but then WFAA would intervene again until KHOU was back on the air.

WFAA media people did a great job filling in on Sunday.

I probably watched too much of the KHOU live feed on Sunday and then again on Monday night and early this morning, but I have observed only extreme professionalism and class. I have not observed a single second of what could be considered politicizing.

That might be the difference between local journalists who are reporting from the event and trying to inform local residents [actual journalism] versus national journalists who live hundreds of miles away and parachute into American hotspots to produce sensationalistic journalism [infotainment].

Regarding hurricane Harvey and the aftermath in the Houston region, the only video coverage that I have watched has been KHOU and when WFAA substituted.

For most of the weather info, I read the government's National Hurricane Center website and a private, Houston area website called Space City Weather.

I have not seen a single second of what might be called "normal TV coverage" because I have only watched the internet live feed on my laptop and phone.

In my opinion, always stick with the local media orgs in events like this.

Links that I have found useful since last weekend, regarding the Houston region:

Media:

• http://www.khou.com
• https://mobile.twitter.com/KHOU
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWwqIO_4VNw - KHOU live feed
• https://mobile.twitter.com/HoustonChron
• https://spacecityweather.com - highly recommend this site for weather udpates

Gov or other:

• http://www.nhc.noaa.gov - Hurricane Center
• http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/discussions/nfdscc1.html - rainfall totals
• http://www.weather.gov/hgx - Houston NWS
• https://mobile.twitter.com/NWSHouston
• https://mobile.twitter.com/JeffLindner1 - Meteorologist with the Harris County Flood Control District
• https://mobile.twitter.com/hcfcd

If wanting to simplify to two websites from the above list, then I would choose:

• KHOU YouTube life feed - KHOU live feed
• Space City Weather