Saturday, September 3, 2011

Thoughts About News Coverage During Hurricane Irene.

I know I've been rather cavalier about Hurricane Irene. I've been through hurricanes. I stay. I will know when to leave. We have a generator in case power goes out. And it does. This particular time, it didn't. I stay because I need to. I want to. I want to take care of my property. I knew the winds were not the threat here. I knew the storm surge was. We stayed to take care of what we have. What you see on the news is not what happens. The news anchors have no freaking idea what's going on. That's why they stand out on the beaches like idiots. If TWC or any other regional news stations knew anything about what they're supposed to know about, they would have been SOUNDSIDE. That's where all the destruction happened. That's where the storm surge came in. That's why they're here. To get footage of destruction and disaster. But NOOOOOOOOO! The stations set up camp on the beach front and they showed waves and wind and a ridiculous anchor, leaning into the wind, holding a Dollar Store Wind Meter, trying to avoid the occasional rogue wave. He actually said, "The beach is just filled with sand!" (Scroll down the post to find the video. I didn't know how to embed it.) And Andy Fox was "perpendicular." They totally missed their oh-so-anticipated disaster. They should have been on the west side. On the soundside. That's where everything was happening. That's where we saw floods I haven't seen in 27 years here. You could drive down the beach road after Irene, and you'd never know there had been a hurricane. Those of us soundside and canal-side were the ones weathering the brunt of the Irene. Then, the journalists left. Moving on to better opportunities for more and better destruction. They certainly don't care about what we go through during the aftermath. They just travel on to the next possible place of destruction. Why don't you intrepid "journalists" head on down to Ocracoke and Hatteras for the next storm? Enjoy your stay. Don't worry. You'll be well taken care of by the locals. That's what we do.

3 comments:

southdrivein said...

John Hope was the the man! Remember him on TWC

Anonymous said...

Well done, Rosie.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Hey, South, John Hope was the best.

Thanks, NMOAC. I needed to get that off my chest.