Spinning the weather
I overheard an interesting snippet from a meteorologist on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning. He was attempting to explain why Britain is not basking in the ‘barbeque summer’ that the Met Office predicted back in April.
Seasonal forecasting is difficult, he said, and in any case, it’s the fault of those people in the Met Office’s press office who always put a ridiculously positive spin on these things and who came up with the stupid concept of the ‘barbeque summer’ in the first place.*
Now having spent my summer holidays reading Nick Davies’ Flat Earth News and its expose on the state of world journalism (or ‘churnalism’ as he describes it), I really shouldn’t be suprised by this. In his book, Nick Davies devotes several chapters to how PR has provided a valuable lifeline to overworked, under-resourced, budget-cut journalists around the world – the PR’s supply of easy oven-ready press release filler is perfect for an ever-hungry 24-hour news world. The downside of this of course, is that without time for proper truth checking from journalists, we are all made more vulnerable to spin, deceit and lies from everyone from celebrities, the government and the CIA to corporates, lobby groups and er… the Met Office.
I know that we all like a good weather story and I would fully expect the Met Office to have a busy communications department shooting out exciting weather news across the country, but embellishing the actual weather forecast? Come on. We’re not that stupid – we all know that it’s going to be rubbish anyway.
* yes, I am paraphrasing here.
July 30th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I knew t his would happen. It’s hard enough that they get it right from hour to hour, let alone three months ahead. And they promised the last two summers would be warmer than average with little rain. I’m sure they are under orders to keep the nation’s spirits up. I read that the Met Office was under pressure by the UK tourism lobby to get bookings up. So let’s just lie about it then shall we?
Of course, with me not being a fan of hot weather, my spirits are up.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
But if they said it would be crap Tenby and Clacton would complain. The Met office got a kicking from Bournemouth for saying it was over piced dump full of p*ssed townies sorry that it wasn’t sunny all the time.
alss Barbeque weather in my experience most Uk bar-b-Q (how do you spell it?) are planned days if not weeks in advance regardless of the weather.
Thsi all being said it is miserable though of to sit on wet bench in the park to have me lunch!
July 30th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Actually, I’d forgotten about that – that was another item on Today a while back when Bournemouth tourism were complaining that the weather/Met Office was discriminating against them. Surely any good branding person should know though that you need to deliver what you promise, even if its weather!!
And it’s ‘BBQ’ BLTP if you’re being informal about it!
July 30th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Now maybe I am missing something here but I suspect Bournemouth has a case for feeling a trifle hard done to. I mean it’s one thing for the Met Office to predict a couple of seaside showers too many, quite another for it to become involved in an ill-tempered and amateurish debate centring on the leisuretime pursuits of its townsfolk. I’m also wondering why the Met Office- whose entire function, it would seem to me, consists of communicating its expert advice to the populace at large- would need such a thing as a communications department. Surely that is the job the weathermen and ladies have been doing for the past 50 years or so? Perhaps not always with the accuracy you might wish for… but the creation of a rogue back-office staffed with keen young media types (who, you suspect, might imagine a cumulus nimbus to be some sort of ultra-trendy cocktail) does not feel like the answer.
Sorry if this sounds a bit grumpy by the way, it’s just that its been pissing down all day here in the North, and I’ve just looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow, and it’s no bleeding better….
July 31st, 2009 at 9:15 am
being a weather forcaster must be the worlds easiest job. you’ve got a 50/50 chance of getting it right every time. can i have a go? next week hhmmmmm let’s go with…nice. there that wasn’t too bad was it.
x
August 1st, 2009 at 3:48 am
I have about as much faith in getting an accurate weather forecast from a fortune teller reading tea leaves as those clowns on television.
August 1st, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Jonathan, I imagine that the Met Office have a coms department to send out the actual weather information and have done for most of the time that they’ve existed. I certainly hope that it’s not staffed by young trendies. I like the sound of a cumulus nimbus cocktail though. Perhaps I should invent one to help use up that bottle of blue curacao I have lurking at the back. The towering white cloud effect could be problematic, but I enjoy a challenge…
Ally, ha, yes! or you could just always use the forecast that Bill Bryson delights in in Notes from a Small Island: ‘Dry and warm, then cooler with some rain’
Hello Keith, you sound like you’ve had some bad experience with television weather forecasts then?! They’re always saying that its getting easier to predict weather though, aren’t they? Wonder what’s going wrong.