Why Is An Apology A Rarity?

At home Helaine and I have talked about this a lot. Should I have said anything? Most forecasters said nothing or tried to spin their way out. Maybe they’re the smart ones?

Last night as we began our news I came on to talk about the weather ahead. Before I did I paused to apologize for what was a busted forecast. Our webguy, Jeff Bailey, posted the apology to our blog. Someone else picked it up and put it on Youtube. A TV insider website, FTVLive, splashed it across their front page.

ftvlive screencap.jpg

Rarity…. Weatherman Takes Blame for Bad Forecast

Here’s a switch! Weatherman says he was wrong and sorry for bad forecast…

Apology lead the news. We have the video….

Talk about breathless prose! I didn’t cure cancer. I just told people how badly I felt for a forecast that went wrong and adversely affect their day.

This afternoon the editor of the New Haven Register asked me to write something for their front page. It will be in the paper in the morning.

At home Helaine and I have talked about this a lot. Should I have said anything? Most forecasters said nothing or tried to spin their way out. Maybe they’re the smart ones?

“Everyone was wrong.” I’ve heard that a lot. The problem is I don’t want to be an interchangeable forecaster. I’d like people to think I have something extra to offer.

Hopefully viewers will see this for what it is. When they give me their trust I take it seriously. That’s the bottom line.

6 thoughts on “Why Is An Apology A Rarity?”

  1. To use a quote from one of your earlier entries:

    Educated predictions don’t always work.

    You made your predictions based on the information you had available. I think that by issuing the apology, you showed that you value your viewers as more than numbers on a Nielsen or Arbitron log.

    Personally, I don’t think it was your fault that the forecast didn’t work out as you had thought it would.

  2. The fact that you apologized and took ownership of your work does make you stand out, Geoff. It’s an example of the sense of self you put your broadcasts. You give us more than the run-down; you give a reason for why things happen. It’s very educational and interesting to watch, kind of like Alton Brown.

    So keep doing what you’re doing. You’re definitely not interchangeable.

  3. You’re in the business of predicting things. People need to understand that sometimes the information you have available will lead you astray. Nobody’s perfect. That’s why I think it’s pointless to give you hell for a blown forecast.

    Yes, I stayed home from work because of what you and everyone else was saying, but I drive 34 miles each way from Goshen to Cheshire to work, and frankly I didn’t want to risk it. I would rather have stayed home with a piddly amount of snow falling than have gone to work and get stranded on Route 8 or something with blizzard conditions.

    Apology accepted. More weather people should be like you 🙂

  4. As everyone has said, Goeff, apology accepted…but yo uknow my feelings on it B-)

    As a matter of fact, you seemed to set a trend in a number of other markets as well – Boston to name one.

    Keep doing what you do!

  5. I’d rather see you err on the side of caution and end up with a busted forecast than the flip side. Calling for 3-4″ and ending up with a foot plus would have been much worse from a public-safety standpoint than calling for a foot plus and ending up with the 3-4″ most of us received.

    It’s nice to know the guy I watch on television each night has a sense of responsibility to his viewers!

  6. So, does this mean that you will be rethinking all the buffoonery during your telecasts. Really, what you do can be done in 25% of the time you spend acting the fool.

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