Out of the 15,000 news folks sent to Tampa to cover the Republican National Convention, now starting tomorrow rather than today because of earlier concerns about inclement weather, it seems 14,999 have turned into weather reporters, observes Grumpy Editor.
They continued to be focused on Isaac --- whether labeled a tropical storm or a potential hurricane --- long predicted to bring wind and rain to the gathering at Tampa Bay Times Forum.
Since early last week, media have been working Isaac into reports relating to the GOP gathering.
However, latest forecasts now place Isaac on a course heading toward the New Orleans area, rather than western Florida.
With all the hurricane talk popping up last week when Isaac was 1,600 miles southeast of Tampa, Bob Buckhorn, the city’s mayor, on Wednesday said he was ready to call off the Republican convention, if necessary, because of the predicted bad weather and much talk (mostly by media) on a direct hit on his fair city.
That made front-page headlines and grabbed prime time broadcast coverage as Tampa geared up with storm preparations.
TV cameras stepped up ever-popular shots of far-away wind-blown palm trees --- with fronds that flutter even with the slightest breeze on clear-sky days.
Yesterday in a turnabout, the Tampa mayor, a Democrat, said he saw no problems with the weather during the GOP convention period.
That cut the stress for the expected 50,000 visitors to Tampa in connection with the convention.
But fidgety, Weather Channel-watching Republicans already had pushed today's speakers into Tuesday and beyond.
Print and broadcast media have been heralding hurricane since the middle of last week.
Media predicted Isaac "could" become a hurricane on Thursday. Then hurricane status was delayed to Friday. Saturday was next with no graduation. Yesterday it still was a tropical storm on a more western path as it passed Key West, Florida, with few incidents.
Meanwhile, umbrella sales continued to rise in Tampa.
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