What TV news consultants get wrong about weather coverage

I was talking with a colleague the other day who shared something that was frustrating them. The television station’s news consultant told them to “play up the extreme temperatures.”

In addition to suggesting that they hype a weather situation, that recommendation has one big problem: temperatures were not, in fact, extreme.

Broadcast meteorologists who care about their reputation and local television stations who value viewers’ trust should never “play up” anything.

That should be the end of this article, except this conversation and that bad advice reminded me of other words of wisdom I’ve heard over the years from TV news consultants. Here’s what’s wrong with every one of them.

New. Now. Next.

The suggestion here is that broadcast meteorologists should always begin their weather presentations by discussing what’s new in the weather, then cover what’s happening now, and finally discuss what’s next.

The problem is what’s happening next might be the lead story. Sometimes, what happened earlier today or while viewers were sleeping is big news. More often than not, in severe and tropical weather markets, what’s happening now is what viewers need to know about.

Forecast First.

Way back in the 1980s, many news consultants promoted a weathercast format that always started with the forecast. No matter what was happening, the forecast was shown first. (I hear some consultants are recommending that format again as if it’s something new.)

If severe weather happens during news time, that should be first. If authorities order coastal residents to evacuate before a hurricane, that should be first. If the National Weather Service just announced this morning’s tornado was an EF-3, that should be first.

Viewers don’t care about cold fronts.

Broadcast meteorologists who’ve been in the business a while have all heard this brilliant suggestion: “Viewers just want to know if it’s going to rain tomorrow, not why it’s going to rain.”

I never followed this advice. Luckily, the news managers I worked for didn’t make me. Over my 35-year career, I always explained why the weather was changing. I kept it brief and tried to make it easy to understand, later using augmented reality to help explain the weather. And I know viewers appreciated that because they told me over and over and over again.

My advice: play the long game.

This article may not earn me any accolades from those at the big three news consulting firms, but I’m perfectly fine with that. The ‘advice’ mentioned above is just a few examples of what traditional TV news consultants get wrong about weather coverage, which hurts the integrity of the entire news business.

Research that helps a television station shape the news and weather coverage to align with the needs of contemporary consumers is valuable information. That’s one thing traditional news consulting firms do well. However, mandating a rigid format based on that research, especially regarding the ever-changing weather, does not work every day. Playing up the “extreme” temperatures might generate a couple of extra eyeballs on TV and pageviews online today, but do that a few times, and viewers will quickly realize you’re crying wolf.

It’s well-documented that fewer people are watching local TV news. Pew Research released a study showing that although weather is the number one reason some people still watch local news, viewers aren’t satisfied with the coverage.

Sometimes viewers want to know what’s happening now and sometimes they need to know what’s happening next. During complicated weather patterns, it might make sense to show the forecast first and again at the end of the weathercast, after explaining why the weather pattern is problematic.

Broadcast meteorologists only need to focus on what viewers want to know and what they need to know about the weather right now, at this moment. Deliver this Essential Message every day on every platform. It really is that simple.

Tim Heller is not a news consultant. He is an AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and Weather Communications Coach. He would never encourage clients to play up extreme temperatures…or any other weather pattern.