As Irma’s Winds Rise, So Does a Debate Over TV Storm Reporting<br />Even Mr. Cuomo acknowledged the criticism: “There is a strong argument to be made that standing in a storm is not a smart thing to do.”<br />>> @ChrisCuomo on CNN just now: "There is a strong argument to be made that standing in a storm is not a smart thing to do."<br />“I think it’s a fair question: Why would you have reporters standing potentially in harm’s way who are telling people to do exactly the opposite?” Mark Strassmann,<br />a CBS News correspondent who has covered hurricanes for 25 years, said in an interview shortly after taking part in a live special from Miami.<br />“Everyone says, ‘Well, look, if you’re standing out in the storm, Sam, then how come I can’t stand out in the storm?’ ” Mr. Champion said.<br />Working for KHOU in Houston, he broadcast the first live radar image of a hurricane — Hurricane Carla — on television<br />and took to the streets to show the conditions firsthand.<br />Early Sunday morning, Bill Weir, a veteran CNN correspondent, was talking to the anchor Chris Cuomo in the middle of a live shot in Key Largo, Fla.<br />And around noon, Kyung Lah, a reporter for CNN, said on the air from Miami Beach, “If I didn’t have this steel railing, I’d be flying.”<br />"Possibly twice my height coming up here ... everywhere you go here in Naples are communities like this."<br />But the news value of dangerous stand-ups — in which a correspondent is seen in the field talking<br />to the camera — is increasingly being questioned, particularly with the rise of social media.
