California Fires: Everyone ok?

[VandVsmama]

My issue is, I shouldn't have to work to find coverage of what is the biggest story in the nation today. As I mentioned, my issue with sources like YouTube is not knowing the reliability of the source.

It might not be considered the biggest story in the nation though.

 

[VandVsmama]

Friends of mine in southern CA love to go to the Getty museum. I saw video this morning of how the hill just beneath it was on fire.

 

[sam_gordon]

My son, DIL and Granddaughters live 10 miles from the Sylmar fire. So far they are fine. A bit frustrating trying to monitor on CNN and MSNBC as they are cutting away to do interviews with people remembering President Jimmy Carter. Nothing against President Carter, but I think the fire should be wall to wall coverage at this point. Mind you, I speak as someone who worked in the industry for 46 years. And it was my experience that there was an East Coast bias in network news coverage decisions. "just another California fire" probably was uttered this morning in some news coverage editorial meeting at the networks.

Are the local stations not wall to wall?

 

[Marrila]

Are the local stations not wall to wall?

The local stations are wall to wall.

 

[Christine]

I've had CNN on for an hour now and they've done nothing but report on the fire with Anderson Cooper getting WAY too close, IMO. I wouldn't even consider going to MSNBC for something like this because they don't really do the active new reporting. So I'd only expect a discussion here and there on it.

 

[tvguy]

Are the local stations not wall to wall?

Los Angeles stations I suspect are. But I am in Sacramento, so not here, 400 miles away.

 

[tvguy]

It might not be considered the biggest story in the nation though.

Well, as a retired TV News person, I would strongly disagree. President Jimmy Carter is lying in state, and the cable networks were interviewing people with knowledge of him while showing a static shot of his casket, but there is nothing breaking going on today. Tomorrow, yes, when it is a National Holiday, and the funeral is being held, then that will be a big story.

 

[tvguy]

Do a Google search for LA news stations and watch their coverage directly on their websites or on their Youtube channels. KTLA, for example.

Yes, that is always a resource for a local breaking news story, look for the local live streams. My point is, this is a huge national if not world story at the moment.

 

[sam_gordon]

Los Angeles stations I suspect are. But I am in Sacramento, so not here, 400 miles away.

And you're on the internet, so watch the local live streams.

Yes, that is always a resource for a local breaking news story, look for the local live streams. My point is, this is a huge national if not world story at the moment.

As is remembering Carter. I'm sure when you were in television, there were choices made every day on what & how to cover a story, and there were viewers that disagreed.

 

[VandVsmama]

Yes, that is always a resource for a local breaking news story, look for the local live streams. My point is, this is a huge national if not world story at the moment.

Submit a suggestion for improvement to CNN and MSNBC.

 

[Christine]

TVGuy, I'm on the East Coast (in Washington, DC) and some of our local news is giving about 5 minutes to it, but as I said, CNN now seems devoted.

For people on the East Coast, sad to say, it just seems so "distant" from us to warrant a lot of coverage so I'm sure the news has to balance that.

We are having one of our worst cold snaps in a while, with dangerous cold predicted for tomorrow, and some of us haven't been able to get out of the house for 3 days due to snow and lack of our various DOTs getting out and clearing snow as well as they used to.

 

[VandVsmama]

And you're on the internet, so watch the local live streams.

For example:
https://ktla.com/on-air/live-streaming/

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

When we were in CA this summer we used CAL FIRE to keep up to date on the fires we were skirting around. It seemed like a good resource.

 

[VandVsmama]

Are the LA fires devastating to the people living there? Absolutely, yes. Getting fire insurance in that area is going to be downright impossible going forward in Pacific Palisades.

Is the huge cold snap that's hitting a major part of the US also big US national news? Absolutely, yes.

Are these the most important news stories in the world right now? Maybe not. For example, what about the 7.1 earthquake that hit Tibet yesterday and killed 126 people? That's pretty big news. Over 14,000 rescue workers are headed there.

It all depends on your frame of reference. I have a friend who runs a community center for disabled children in Claremont. So I've been following the local LA news about the fires.

By comparison, 1 of my kids lives in north TX and they're going to get hit with ice and snow tomorrow into Friday. So I'm following news outlets in that area to find out what's happening locally there.

That's the power of the Internet. The world is at your finger tips!

 

[HeatherC]

My issue is, I shouldn't have to work to find coverage of what is the biggest story in the nation today. As I mentioned, my issue with sources like YouTube is not knowing the reliability of the source.

Unfortunately, it was even worse for North Carolina. They got very little coverage and still have people homeless that no one is reporting on.

For long term.....we really need to do something about climate change.

View attachment 927492

Well a good start would have been if Newsom allowed water from the north to flow down, but he didn’t. Also, does CA not do controlled burns like other states? And why do they not have a way to use ocean water? This happens EVERy year and they do nothing to mitigate it. Very sad.

 

[tvguy]

Submit a suggestion for improvement to CNN and MSNBC.

LOL. I worked for CNN and NBC affiliated TV stations for 45 years. They know how I feel.

 

[tvguy]

TVGuy, I'm on the East Coast (in Washington, DC) and some of our local news is giving about 5 minutes to it, but as I said, CNN now seems devoted.

For people on the East Coast, sad to say, it just seems so "distant" from us to warrant a lot of coverage so I'm sure the news has to balance that.

We are having one of our worst cold snaps in a while, with dangerous cold predicted for tomorrow, and some of us haven't been able to get out of the house for 3 days due to snow and lack of our various DOTs getting out and clearing snow as well as they used to.

It was interesting that President Biden was in Los Angeles during the fire and was for all intense purposes stuck here due to the wind making flying unsafe, but he could have safely landed in the weather in Washington and will shortly arrive there.

 

[Christine]

It was interesting that President Biden was in Los Angeles during the fire and was for all intense purposes stuck here due to the wind making flying unsafe, but he could have safely landed in the weather in Washington and will shortly arrive there.

We are no longer having "weather" here in Washington except for the bitter cold which is not affecting flights.

I am by no means trying to equate getting stuck in snow here in DC as equal to the awful fires out West. Just to point out that people here on the east coast are occupied with their me, me, me attitudes because the plows have barely been through and the neighborhood streets are still impassable for many people. You should see them on the NextDoor app! Hysterical really. But our state-run plow efforts absolutely fell apart this year and I'm sure there will be an investigation. Or should be. So, my point is, people here are preoccupied what is bothering them so that's what the news is catering to right now and a national station has to somewhat do the same.

 

[cabanafrau]

It's a super stressful situation, especially when you have family under threat. No doubt it would be TOP priority from that perspective. Completely understandable.

However there are other perspectives. It happens all the time. People with missing family members routinely feel short-shrifted on coverage compared with others. ALL of those are important stories, too. People in Asheville and the region who went through the destruction of Hurricane Helene probably feel like they are long forgotten in the new cycle, yet many of them still have lives and communities completely upended. Many didn't have power and/or potable water for weeks. Farrah Fawcett died June 25, 2009. Many people were unaware because of another death that day pushed everything else off the news cycle.

 

[tvguy]

We are no longer having "weather" here in Washington except for the bitter cold which is not affecting flights.

I am by no means trying to equate getting stuck in snow here in DC as equal to the awful fires out West. Just to point out that people here on the east coast are occupied with their me, me, me attitudes because the plows have barely been through and the neighborhood streets are still impassable for many people. You should see them on the NextDoor app! Hysterical really. But our state-run plow efforts absolutely fell apart this year and I'm sure there will be an investigation. Or should be. So, my point is, people here are preoccupied what is bothering them so that's what the news is catering to right now and a national station has to somewhat do the same.

Hard to believe that something that has prompted 70,000 evacuations isn't huge world news. Regarding snow plows, I have family who live in snow country where only the main roads get plowed, not residential areas. As one of my late Uncles put it "rear wheel driver, 150 pounds of sand in the trunk, you drive"