A lot of people have noticed that during the summer the news media seems to pluck an issue from the air and decides to run with it all summer long. Previously we’ve seen the Summer of the Sharks, and the Summer of the Missing White Girls, and then the Summer of the Sharks again. In each case the actual incidence of these events hadn’t increased, but the coverage had.
What’s going to be the issue for ’06? What could possibly fill the airwaves of 24-hour news networks and yet still feel like news?
- Florida Prepares for the Worst with Alberto
- Florida braced for arrival of Tropical Storm Alberto
- Following Post-Katrina Success, Wal-Mart Readies for Alberto
You can see why one might get the impression that Alberto is a big storm. Mentioned in the same headline as Katrina! “The Worst!” A hurricane wiped out a city a little while ago, so maybe this one could do the same!
Oh wait, no:
I can’t remember ever hearing about storm “A” before. By the time I find out about a named storm, they’re usually up to D or E. This is because, of course, that most storms don’t become hurricanes and peter out before they’re worth discussing. If they’re already comparing tropical storms with Katrina, you can bet you’ll hear about B, and C, and D… all the way up to alpha and beta. I’m sure by October we’ll know more about plywood than we ever thought we could.