tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759913671101666257.post7605540123346789892..comments2023-05-24T06:02:06.480-05:00Comments on Chuck's Chatter: What does the public want from a weather forecast?Chuck Doswellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03099345055614900157noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759913671101666257.post-48068359334708433832017-07-10T09:16:13.238-05:002017-07-10T09:16:13.238-05:00"The public" is a somewhat nebulous conc..."The public" is a somewhat nebulous concept and it's difficult to generalize about "the public" as the sum total of all those consumers of weather information. Your anecdotal observations are similar to mine when it comes to the "uniform" they impose on women who fill various roles on TV. TV operates by one and only one basic rule: ratings mean $$. If women on TV are being forced to wear a "uniform" it's basically because doing so enhances ratings. We have ourselves to blame for this by what we choose to watch. Although we've come quite a ways in the way women are being treated, we still have a long way to go. In meteorology, when I was an undergrad, women represented only a few percent of meteorology majors.Chuck Doswellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03099345055614900157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2759913671101666257.post-7757152163352145952017-07-09T03:33:24.862-05:002017-07-09T03:33:24.862-05:00Chuck, you used the magic word... "public.&qu...Chuck, you used the magic word... "public." For much of the public, "weather forecast" is equivalent to watching a favorite TV broadcast, and they really don't care that the true forecasts are made by meteorologists at the NWS and SPC. They want action! Excitement! And to know if they might get wet or cold or hot. My [unscientific] observations (compiled from watching local weather broadcasts in Oregon and California, as well as some national news programs, including those on the Weather Channel, and the poor women in the Weather Underground's spot), indicate that today's public (i.e., "viewers") are probably more interested in seeing a female "weather personality" in a cloned skin-tight sheath dress with stiletto heels than they are in hearing the actual forecast. Doesn't matter how much education or credentials the TV meteorologist has. Also doesn't seem to matter how much cellulite these women have, or how big, small or curvy their assets are, or how old they are... just clothe them in something skin tight and showing lots of leg and arm skin, and, at times, even more intimate curves. Meanwhile, the guys on Weather Underground show are in comfortable shirts and khakis with their shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbow, showing they are really <i>Goin' to Work!</i> Men on other local/national broadcasts are completely covered in suits and ties that fit and are not too tight. I've been doing screenshots of these poor women, including a pregnant meteorologist (who looked as if she could deliver any day); her brightly colored dress was so tight she looked totally miserable. Then I noticed that female news anchors were ALSP starting to wear the same very-tight, usually sleeveless, leg-showing dresses. Then I found that <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/04/female_tv_newscasters_and_the_sleeveless_sheath_dress.html" rel="nofollow">Slate.com did a story on the tight, sleeveless sheath dress</a> that are now also prevalent on national news programs. Seeing women treated as visual objects on the air is infuriating; there is still so much work to do! I'm not against a woman looking sexy and wearing what she wants, but no one should be required to wear a uniform, especially these. (I'm writing a post about this using my casual data and the pictures I've collected...)Loretta McKibbenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05733147554185657640noreply@blogger.com