PITTSBURGH - WTAE News Director Bob Longo issued a press release this morning assailing The New York Times for publishing a leaked copy of meteorologist Joe DeNardo’s Winter Forecast. DeNardo’s Winter Forecast was scheduled for broadcast this evening on Channel Four Action News. "This egregious breach of the principle of separation of electronic and print media is a violation of the sacred trust our viewers have in us, and in Joe DeNardo’s forecast," said Longo. He added that he was planning to ask U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan to appoint a special prosecutor to identify the source of the leak. "I’ve got a feeling it was Don Schwenneker," said Longo. "He’s always been jealous of Joe." The forecast appears in today’s edition of The New York Times. The article reveals that Joe says over the next six to eight weeks, temperatures will begin to slowly decrease, on average, with a concurrent increase in the amount of darkness. Most of which, it says, will occur at night. The most shocking portion of the document deals with the issue of precipitation. "From the middle of December into the middle of March," Joe says, "We’re going to be faced with the possibility of snow." DeNardo ends his dire forecast on an optimistic note. "By the end of March, temperatures should begin to moderate. This is what we in the meteorology business call 'spring.'"
The New York Times article states that the paper already has a rough draft of DeNardo’s spring forecast. Bill Keller, Executive Editor, said he is still deciding whether or not to publish the rough draft. "There is a lot of internal debate at the paper about this," he said.
