Earlier this weekend we reported that soccer fans in the Twin Cities were outraged after local affiliate FOX 9 News decided to break into live coverage of the UEFA Champions League Final to inform viewers that a tornado warning had been issued.
Instead of informing viewers about the warning by running a ticker across the bottom of the screen (the way that rival CBS affiliate WCCO Channel 4 did), FOX 9 News displayed a split screen for almost the entire second half of the live game. The Champions League Final match between Barcelona and Manchester United was relegated to a small screen in the corner of their broadcast, the sound from the game was switched off and the broadcast of the game was ended before the rest of the nation could see the trophy presentation. To add insult to injury, FOX 9 News weekend anchor Tim Blotz referred to the game as “The World Cup.”
Now, however, video footage has been released with audio of FOX 9 News anchor Tim Blotz telling viewers “don’t cheese us off” and admonishing them for expressing their opinion:
“I know a lot of you are calling the studios right now. Folks, I’m going to tell you, it does no good to call us. We’re going to continue with our weather coverage, ALRIGHT? So I’m going to end the debate RIGHT there.”
“So don’t call us. Don’t write to us on Facebook and cheese us off because, you know what, we’re sticking with this no matter what you say, we’re going to continue to keep our viewers safe.”
It’s one thing to keep viewers safe, but what FOX 9 News did was on the verge of weather porn. KMSP-TV FOX 9 decided to show weather news instead of the half-time show, but was it really necessary to continue the weather coverage for the last 40 minutes of the game? Would FOX 9 News have done the same thing if it was a NFL or college football game?
Thankfully the weather storm passed without an incident Saturday with no major damage reported according to the FOX 9 News website.
H/T Inside MN Soccer.
