Breaking news: It's hot in Arizona. Just ask the media. Here's the only heat story you need

To borrow a favorite trick from cable news networks, BREAKING NEWS: It’s hot in Arizona.

One of the mandates during Chris Licht’s ill-fated, brief tenure at CNN was to not use the “breaking news” designation every time a cat got stuck in a tree. Fair enough — if everything is important, nothing is.

Most people, I would guess, have at least a vague notion that it gets hot in Arizona in the summer. I believe it gets cold in Minnesota during the winter, as well. It happens every single year, after all. So it stands to reason that it’s hot again this summer.

Yet the media, national and local, are obsessed with the Arizona heat.

If you’re not devoting air time and newsroom resources to triple digits, can you really call yourself a Phoenix news station? The New York Times might as well have a Phoenix weather bureau, they cover the heat so much. (What editor must you tick off to suffer that assignment?)

I’m going to save everyone a lot of trouble. This is the only Arizona weather story you need, this summer or any summer.

It is hot in Arizona. Brutally hot, in fact. Unrelenting heat that attacks you in waves. And it won’t let up until October.

The end. Now go read my review of “Barbie.”

Summer in Arizona: 100 fun ways to survive the 100-degree heat in Phoenix

Why all the heat coverage? Well, misery loves company

Yes, it’s record-breaking heat which, let’s not pretend otherwise, stinks. There are serious consequences, as well: it's especially brutal and dangerous for unhoused people. And there have been 18 confirmed heat-related deaths in the Phoenix area this year.

The thing is, there are endless variations on the basic story that simply states the obvious: It's hot. Even record-breaking.

But honestly, once the temperature soars past 110 degrees, it’s really just a matter of … well, degrees. It’s miserable, and misery loves company. Which is why national media are suddenly taking an interest in the Phoenix heat.

If you live in Arizona, there is a certain amount of bemusement that comes with all this. On the one hand, it’s kind of flattering when everyone pays attention to you. On the other hand, it would be nice if it was for something positive. Nobody likes to be reminded of their shortcomings.

And it’s not like Arizona doesn’t get a certain amount of national attention. It just tends to be about embarrassing things, a kind of cosmic tear in the seat of the pants, instead of, I don’t know, the beauty of the Grand Canyon. (BREAKING NEWS: The Grand Canyon is beautiful.)

I mean, did Kari Lake and the election deniers not shame us enough? Now this?

In fairness, the records presumably make the heat somewhat newsworthy, though I am the wrong person to ask. Early in my journalism career, in North Carolina, an editor assigned me a story about, yes, record heat.

This is ridiculous, I complained. The only reason it’s a record is because it’s never been this hot before.

There was a version of that argument that made sense in my head for a moment, I swear, though the moment was fleeting.

I did the story.

Climate change is newsworthy, no matter what deniers tell you

There is, of course, a serious side to all this. Climate change is real, and if you need more proof it’s deadly, I don’t know what to tell you, though I understand a certain segment won’t believe it till a tidal wave washes away Cleveland or whatever. Many of the national stories reflect this, and that’s good — journalists have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to the dangers of climate change.

Many of the stories don’t, however — some are more of the what-idiot-would-live-in-Phoenix variety. Others are just like, “Haha, maybe it’s hot in (insert your hometown here), but at least we aren’t out there frying eggs on the sidewalk.”

(Don’t fry an egg on the sidewalk. It sounds interesting, but really, it’s just depressing.)

So yes, it's hot. Really, really hot. Hotter than it's ever been. But when it happens all the time, is it really news anymore?

These 4 words are off limits: It's officially air-conditioning season in Phoenix.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.

Subscribe to azcentral.com today. What are you waiting for?

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Media obsession with Phoenix extreme heat peaks, my interest declines