Irene: A Perfect Storm of Hype
For the television reporter, clad in his red cagoule emblazoned with the CNN logo, it was a dramatic on-air moment, broadcasting live from Long Island, New York during a hurricane that also threatened Manhattan.
“We are in, right, now…the right eye wall, no doubt about that…there you see the surf,” he said breathlessly. “That tells a story right there.”
Stumbling and apparently buffeted by ferocious gusts, he took shelter next to a building. “This is our protection from the wind,” he explained. “It’s been truly remarkable to watch the power of the ocean here.”
The surf may have told a story but so too did the sight behind the reporter of people chatting and ambling along the sea front and just goofing around. There was a man in a t-shirt, a woman waving her arms and then walking backwards. Then someone on a bicycle glided past.
Across the screen, the “Breaking News: Irene Batters Long Island” caption was replaced by stern advice from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): “Stay inside, stay safe.”
The images summed up Hurricane Irene – the media and the United States federal government trying to live up to their own doom-laden warnings and predictions while a sizeable number of ordinary Americans just carried on as normal and even made gentle fun of all the fuss.
There was almost palpable disappointment among the TV big guns rolled out for the occasion when Irene was downgraded to a mere ‘tropical storm”. In New York city, CNN’s silver-haired Anderson Cooper, more usually seen in a tight t-shirt in a famine or war zone, was clad in what one wag dubbed “disaster casual”.
He looked crestfallen and fell briefly silent when a weatherwoman told him that the rain was not going to get any worse. “Wow, because this isn’t so bad,” he said. “It’s an annoying rain but it isn’t even a sideways rain.”
Then came the press conferences from the politicians, with Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey insisting that his evacuation of the Jersey Shore was “a pre-emptive measure that I am confident saved lives” and there could still be damage worth “tens of billions” of dollars.
Janet Napolitano, the Homeland Security chief, declared that there was “a ways to go with Irene” but “with the evacuations and other precautions taken we have dramatically decreased the risk to life”. Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York seemed thoroughly delighted with himself, as if he personally had calmed the waters and stifled the winds.
The truth is that the dire warning beforehand suited both politicians and journalists. Just as with the minor earthquake that shook the east coast last week causing no loss of life and virtually no damage, Irene became a huge story because it was where the media lived.
For politicians, Irene was a chance to either make amends or appear in control. The White House sent out 25 Irene emails to the press on Saturday alone.
There were photographs of President Barack Obama touring disaster centres and footage of him asking sombre, pertinent questions. With his poll ratings plummeting, Obama needed to project an aura of seriousness and command. He was all too aware that the political fortunes of his predecessor George W Bush never recovered after the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005.
The press mostly reported the message the White House had carefully crafted: “Obama takes charge” read the headline of one wire service story.
At the state level, Irene was a chance for political redemption. Christie had been lambasted around the start of the year for taking a holiday during one of the worst snow storms in New Jersey history.
Bloomberg, who ordered a mandatory evacuation of residents in low-lying areas during Irene that thousands ignored, had been widely criticised for inadequate clean-up plans during the same blizzards.
There was some loss of life during Irene, though significantly less than during dozens of other weather events across the US this year.
Preparation for the worst-case scenario makes sense and could have saved hundreds during Katrina. But the worst-case scenario was largely portrayed as inevitable. Some of the footage of television reporters putting themselves in the most extreme position possible just to get the best “stand-up” live shot was beyond parody.
First prize went to Tucker Barnes, a reporter for Fox 5, who went live from Ocean City, Maryland amid a strange, brown foamy substance. He reported that it “didn’t taste great” and had a “sandy consistency”. Apparently, it was raw sewage.
As Howard Kurtz notes, The media and politicians enjoy a symbiotic relationship during possible impending disasters. The resultant perfect storm of hype over Irene runs the risk of making Americans even more like to ignore warnings in the future.
By lunchtime on Sunday, the sun was peeking through over New York. The TV anchors were expressing their relief at the good news that the east coast had “dodged a bullet” and Irene had not been the apocalypse they had predicted.
Perhaps it would be a bit too much to hope that they and certain politicians felt a little sheepish too.
Pray for the child to have a REFUAH SHLA
How can you call it Hype when 22 people died as well as 2 Frum Yiddin and a child in critical care?
Thinkster
Storm in a tea cup.
true floridian
yeah i said this was all hype
to #1
for every person that died there were 4 million that didn’t and were never in danger
to number 4
isnt the loss of even one life a big deal!?!? and perhaps if they hadnt made such a big deal, people wouldnt ahve been as cautious as they were and a lot more than 22 would have died!!!
and then if the politicians had ‘underplayed’ it there would have been massive backlash about the lack of warnings etc.
you people always find what to complain about!!
to #4
It is because of all the hype that there were so few casualties. Had we not all been warned to stay indoors, how many hundreds or thousands more would have died. I can easily say that driving through Boro Park, Flatbush and Crown Heights today, I saw at least 50 downed trees-large ones- and that is just here in our tiny tiny corner where there was hardly any damage. If people had been out and about as they are in a “regular storm”, there would have been so many deaths. From downed live wires, from flooding, from trees. How can it called hype, when there was so much potential for loss of life?
Way to go Number 5......
I don’t usually comment, but I think people who keep downplaying this massive storm are doing a disservice to the people that did heed the warnings and ultimately stayed safe because of that. I would take the exact same precautions next time, even if I thought it was all “hype”. Ever heard of the saying “better safe than sorry.”
Fed up
Easy for you to say! What about ppl who’s housed floated away or are under 11 feet of water (me) or roads collapsed and swallowed or bungalow colonies completely submerged! You are all the idiots! The news never told you ch errs to board up yourself house you chose to! When they say what they expect to happen they are talking about places on the coast or near water bodies and when they say over and over again that flooding is a major issue have brains an realize that it obviously doesn’t apply to you if you don’t live near those! You overreacted from the beg
T0 # 5
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You said it all for me!!!
Fed up
Death toll is up to 40
to # 5, 6 and 7
Every day 109 persons die in car crashes. While certainly each death is a tragedy we don’t (and should not) go around alarming and potificating. People, in general, are not stupid and know how to care of themselves during heavy winds and similar events. We dont need a paternalistic media to act as “tatties” telling us what to do, what to eat, etc as if we were little children
to # 11
Looks like you never lived in a hurricane area before. Thats what people do they warn people!! Hurricane Katrina was bad not just because of the hurricane but because of the levee. What are you talking about car crashes???? People in general need to be told how to care for themselves in a hurricane. What if people weren’t warned and drove around falling tree braches, live wires, Holland tunnel not the best place to drive threw!!! People are still with no electric, well they were warned!!!!!!!!!!!