Have You Died? No Such Luck

The Maven's last blog post was back in January, complementing local TV meteorologists for their calm and informative reports during a prolonged snow event. Other than that, there's been silence. Oh, there have been frequent typos, poor grammar, abuse of the AP Style Book, and the ever-popular geographic fubars we all know and love. Most of those have been addressed on Facebook and X. Overall, local media seems to be moving along without any major blunders or self-inflicted injuries. 

Have the Fort Wayne media participants' performances improved significantly, or has the audience grown to accept what is placed on the media dining table every night? In truth, it's probably a little bit of both. 

The local media landscape has also changed. We have become a one-newspaper town. The last News Sentinel afternoon paper flopped off the press less than a decade ago. Fort Wayne once had 4 TV news outlets, but now we have 2. OK, 2 and a half, if one counts WFFT Fox 55 reports from Lafayette. Radio news, real radio news only has one outlet, WOWO 1190 and 92.3. Yes, the local public broadcaster does "news", but similar to most local radio news, it's a capsulization of stories the Journal Gazette offers online. This is what has become the new normal, and the audiences seem to be fine with that. The Maven should also note that a few free/subscription-based news products have come online and are gaining audience and revenue. 

The Maven would be foolish to claim any credit for the improvement of media performance. Still, considering the items sent to the Maven, over the past years by readers, viewers, and blog readers, one could argue that bringing media's shortcomings to light has helped others understand the importance of watching the media and calling out real or perceived crimes against that audience.  

Just for giggles and grins, let's review a handful of what the media foisted on their audience from more than a decade ago. The Maven thinks you'll agree media is doing better, measurably better. 

Here we go:

At Least The Print Journalist Got It Right. TV? Not So Much: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2022/10/did-we-view-same-meeting.html

Police Cars Wearing Handcuffs: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2017/07/police-cars-wearing-handcuffs.html

Two Friday Night Favorites: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2013/05/obligatory-wane-tv-typo-56.html

Those Rand McNally Moments: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2024/01/those-rand-mcnally-moments-make-you.html

WOWO Convicts Man of Murder (no trial, no jury) https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2012/08/wowo-news-convicts-another-person-of.html

WOWO Icon's Name Butchered by his Own Station: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2022/05/some-old-guy-that-used-to-work-here-or.html

All City Council Members Look Alike (AKA stale file photo): https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2024/04/not-current-photo.html

Under Investigation? Depends On What Paragraph You Read: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2012/07/confused-yes-i-am.html

The Case of the Illegible Player: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-case-of-illegible-ineligible-player.html

JG Loses Sight of Site: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2012/11/news-sentinel-loses-sight-of-site.html

WOWO Revolving Newsroom Door: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2012/11/another-one-bites-dust.html

WOWO Says They Are Shuddering: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2013/06/if-mavens-workplace-were-to-be.html

Why WFFT News Fizzled: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2013/07/wfft-diseased-at-scene.html

Twofer Tuesday: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2013/08/twofer-tuesday.html

Change of Positions: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2013/08/hows-it-feel-tracy.html

Maven Answers Your Questions: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2013/09/mavens-mailbox.html

A Classic: OUR NEWSCASTS SAVE LIVES: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2021/07/golden-oldie-wpta-abc21-july-7-2017.html

JG Staff Cuts Affect the Product: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2022/02/check-your-date-j-g.html

This Skin at WPTAABC21Alive: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2023/02/one-more-example-why-local-tv-news.html

CheezWhiz and the News: https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2023/05/local-newscasts-vs-cheez-whiz.html

Have You Seen Her? (hint, it's a 'he'): https://fwmediamaven.blogspot.com/2024/08/it-helps-if-you-read-fine-print-kids.html

Mostly Good Reviews on Local Weather Forecasters

Kudos to local TV weather teams for providing cautious, yet straight forward coverage of this weekend's storm. There was no hype, no panic alarms...thank you.

The Maven wants to be clear that local TV stations have invested in people and technology to build credibility and deserve praise for their efforts. 

The Maven is not talking about those "internet" or "Facebook" weather charlatans that pop up in our social media feeds, with official sounding names and wild, mostly bogus predictions of exaggerated snowfall totals. These un-trained "meteorologists", sitting in their pajamas in their mother's basements and eating re-heated Hot Pockets, possess no more forecasting skills than the average doorknob. 

All that aside, the Maven is confused on exactly how many inches of snow we're shoveling off our sidewalks and driveways today. 

Our friends at WANE-15, according to their web presence, says we received "almost" 10 inches and a clean and bright graphic indicating 9.4 inches are covering our lawns.

 

Yet, our local, and still operating newspaper quotes the National Weather Service reporting 8.7 inches of the white stuff. 

Why the confusion? Why not the same number?

Here are some possible explanations:

The totals were "read" at different times.

The totals were "read" at different locations. 

The J-G indicates the NWS total is from Fort Wayne International Airport, while the WANE-15 story does not indicate where or when the "record" was measured, nor the source/location of other snow totals in their graphic. A little clarification might help, here. 

While we can argue about the exact number, the Maven commends the local TV media for providing good coverage of this latest storm.