To borrow a favorite cable news trick, BREAKING NEWS: It’s hot in Arizona.
One of the mandates during Chris Licht’s ill-fated and brief tenure at CNN was to not use the designation “breaking news” every time a cat got stuck in a tree. Fair: If everything is important, nothing is.
Most people, I’m guessing, have at least a vague notion that Arizona is hot in the summer. I think it’s cold in Minnesota during the winter too. It happens every year, after all. So it’s only logical that this summer will be hot again.
Yet the media, national and local, is obsessed with Arizona’s heat.
If you’re not dedicating triple-digit airtime and newsroom resources, can you really call yourself a Phoenix news station? The New York Times might as well have a Phoenix weather bureau, they cover so much heat. (Which editor do you need to check to receive this assignment?)
I’m going to save everyone a lot of trouble. This is the only Arizona weather story you need, this summer or any summer.
It’s hot in Arizona. Brutally hot, indeed. Relentless heat that hits you in waves. And it won’t leave until October.
The end. Now read my “Barbie” review.
Summer in Arizona:100 fun ways to survive the 100 degree heat in Phoenix
Why all the heat coverage? Well, misery loves company
Yes, it’s a record heat that, let’s not pretend otherwise, stinks. There are also serious consequences: it is especially brutal and dangerous for the homeless. And there have been 18 confirmed heat-related deaths in the Phoenix area this year.
The thing is, there are endless variations on the basic story that simply states the obvious: it’s hot. Even breaking records.
But honestly, once the temperature gets above 110 degrees, it’s really just a matter of… well, degrees. He’s miserable, and misery loves company. That’s why the national media is suddenly interested in the Phoenix heat.
If you live in Arizona, there is a certain amount of perplexity that comes with all of this. On the one hand, it’s kind of flattering when everyone pays attention to you. On the other hand, it would be nice if it was for something positive. No one likes to be reminded of their shortcomings.
And it’s not like Arizona doesn’t get some national attention. It’s just embarrassing stuff, a kind of cosmic tear in the seat of your pants, instead of, I don’t know, the beauty of the Grand Canyon. (BREAKING: The Grand Canyon is beautiful.)
I mean, didn’t Kari Lake and the election deniers shame us enough? now this?
To be fair, the records presumably make the heat somewhat newsworthy, though I’m the wrong person to ask. Early in my journalism career, in North Carolina, an editor assigned me a story about, yes, record heat.
This is ridiculous, I complained. The only reason it’s a record is because it’s never been this hot before.
There was a version of that argument that made sense in my head for a moment, I swear, though the moment was fleeting.
I made the story.
Climate change is newsworthy, no matter what the deniers tell you
There is, of course, a serious side to all this. Climate change is real, and if you need more proof that it’s deadly, I don’t know what to tell you, although I understand that a certain segment won’t believe it until a tidal wave sweeps away Cleveland or whatever. Many of the national stories reflect this, and that’s a good thing: Journalists have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to the dangers of climate change.
However, many of the stories do not; some are more of the what-idiot-would-live-in-Phoenix variety. Others are like, “Haha, it might be hot inside (insert your hometown here), but at least we’re not out there frying eggs on the sidewalk.”
(Don’t fry an egg on the sidewalk. It sounds interesting, but it’s actually depressing.)
So yes, it’s hot. Really, really hot. Hotter than ever. But when it happens all the time, is it already news?
These 4 words are prohibited:It’s officially air conditioning season in Phoenix.
Arrive at Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.
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