Atlanta meteorologist got death threats after station cut to tornado warnings from the Masters

[RandySF]

A meteorologist in Atlanta said she received death threats after her local CBS affiliate station cut from coverage of the Masters on Sunday to broadcast updates about a tornado warning.

"To everyone sending me death threats right now: you wouldn’t be saying a damn thing if a tornado was ravaging your home this afternoon," the meteorologist, Ella Dorsey, wrote Sunday on Twitter.

"Lives are more important than 5 minutes of golf. I will continue to repeat that if and when we cut into programming to keep people safe," Dorsey added.

Dorsey also told weather.com that the reactions the station received were "disgusting."

"The feedback that we got — the backlash that we got — the hatred that we got from that — from that 10 minutes of being on air to keep people safe was unreal," Dorsey said. "It was disgusting."

Dorsey added that she "would do it a hundred times over" if it meant possibly saving a life.

"If I could save one life or help one family get out of danger, I would do it a hundred times over and get that hate a hundred times over because that's the pinnacle of our job ... to keep people safe," she said.


https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/439259-atlanta-meteorologist-got-death-threats-after-station-cut-to?__twitter_impression=true

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Golf. Republicans. Pro-life. Figures.

Idiots.

[titaniumsalute]

2. I'm as liberal as it gets and love golf so kinda don't sterotype us

[RandySF]

5. Trump was really talking up the Masters tournament

It's very likely it got additional viewership from some mouth-breathers who never watched before in their lives.

[titaniumsalute]

18. Well that could be...

But I watch sports to get away from the left-right bullshit and decompress with a few bourbons on weekends. Yeah golf can be a snooty right wingers game but all of my friends I play with are lefties like me.

[Aristus]

20. I'm willing to bet you weren't one of those sending death threats.

It's big among Republicans 'pro-lifers', though. "I'll kill you if you don't stop killin' babies!"

[titaniumsalute]

22. Well no I wasn't LOL

Yeah the hypocrisy of the pro-lifers...

[Ohiogal]

3. Such is life in America now ....

[redstatebluegirl]

4. This country is losing it's darn mind!

[riverine]

6. Reminds me of the Heidi Game

Damn, I am getting old.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game

Fans were furious.

[mountain grammy]

17. Yes, but that wasn't a life threatening situation.

I'm pretty old myself. I was watching the game (big Jets fan back then) and I was pissed when they left the game for another show. If they had interrupted the game for tornado warnings? Totally necessary and important.

When we saw the final score, I was kind of glad I missed the end.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. But ... but ... TIGER WOODS!

However, I'm glad our local weather was calm during Sunday's showing of Game of Thrones.

[Paladin]

8. This weather guy deserves the Medal Of Freedom, more than Tiger Woods.

Somebody pass the word to trump (not that it'll do any good).

[nolabear]

14. Woman.

[Paladin]

25. Apologies. Didn't scan the source material closely enough. (nt)

[csziggy]

9. It could have been worse - they could have put Heidi on!

[Blue_Tires]

10. It's the Heidi Bowl, Part II?

[Cairycat]

11. WTF is wrong with people?

I get being upset about interruption to something you're enjoying watching, but death threats? When the interruption was due to a tornado warning (more serious than a watch)?

I'm a Boomer, and I don't remember people making death threats about things like this when I was young. It predates the Orange Chimp's reign though. Maybe in the last 20-25 years?

Oh, now I see that the meteorologist was a woman. Hmm, misogyny added into the mix, I'll wager.

[Act_of_Reparation]

24. Are you assuming it was young people making the threats?

The average golfer is 54 years old.

[Cairycat]

26. No, I was saying that

thirty, forty years ago, people who were upset with a tv show being interrupted might yell, throw things at the tv, curse, write a nasty letter to the station or network - but death threats, not so much. Nothing to do with the age of the upset person.

[Act_of_Reparation]

27. It's a lot easier to get someone's attention these days.

Thirty, forty years ago, you needed a typewriter, an envelope, some postage, an address (which might not be easy to find), and 3-5 business days if you wanted to threaten someone's life. If you're drunk, you might get to step 1 before you give up because, hey, the show just came back on the air.

Today, all you need to do to ruin someone's day is twenty seconds and 140 characters.

[lpbk2713]

12. We're talking about mouth breathing goons here.

Sooner or later some fool will leave an evidence trail.
Then they will say they are sorry (sorry they got caught).

[Grammy23]

13. A few years ago when we were in the middle of a tornado outbreak

Our local ABC affiliate was doing continuous coverage of the situation. They were tracking storms and giving warnings to local residents as appropriate. They were down to street level/neighborhood tracking as tornadoes popped up around town. It was scary as hell but exactly what was needed at that time. It was their warning to get to a safe place that prompted my husband and me to race to our middle of the house bathroom. Within a few seconds of getting in the safe place, all hell broke loose as the tornado skipped through our neighborhood and along our back yard. In 30 seconds or less it was gone and skipping down one street over, destroying everything in its path. A few minutes after that, it was off to another neighborhood and crossing over into the next county.

What that Atlanta newscaster did was exactly what was needed. It precisely what good communications is about. Bringing timely information that can save lives. Anyone who can’t understand that that is far more important than a golf tournament, a movie or Dancing With the Stars is probably not capable of using their brain to reason out why.

[mountain grammy]

19. Exactly! Well said!

These on the ground reports save lives.. period!

[nolabear]

15. Death threats are the new fit of pique.

Social media has made hysterics of a whole lot of people. Every expression is jacked up to the maximum level. You don't just say "HEYYYY!" any more. You say "I'll KILL YOU!!" It's godawful in that it scares the crap out of people needlessly, since these people have no intention of doing any such thing, but moreso because we can get inured to it and not recognize a real threat when it's there.

One of the things I want to see in the new administration is a call for a new empathy and a new realization that when you scream all the time your screams lose all meaning.

[Javaman]

16. too bad sweet irony couldn't be engineered. just saying...nt

[Lint Head]

21. If anyone I love has their life endangered by a tornado, and

need to be warned, I have three words. Fuck the Masters.

[jmowreader]

23. This is the meteorologist in question

https://www.cbs46.com/ella-dorsey/article_bd1544b6-ddec-11e8-b145-93af18a060da.html

This is not the person I would send to cover Trump’s next visit to Atlanta. She looks like she’d pick him up by his twelve-foot tie and scream at him, “what the fuck did you do to my country?”