Television news, with a few exceptions, completely failed to cover the unimaginable devastation that struck Western North Carolina over the weekend.
As Hurricane Helen made landfall in Florida and headed inland, officials expected it to lose strength. Instead, cities like Asheville and eastern Tennessee suffered near-biblical flooding, leaving a trail of impassable roads and collapsed bridges.
Why wasn't this the main story everywhere?
To put it bluntly, North Carolina is fleetingly on the radar of coastal media elites and ignored as flyover country. Most news organizations don't have any reporters based there.
Death toll rises as North Carolina reels from Helen's devastation: 'We've never seen anything like this'
President Biden just released a statement over the weekend, reinforcing the notion that this is not a Katrina-level crisis. Eight months after the 2005 storm, I visited New Orleans and was appalled to see miles and miles of empty, flood-damaged suburban homes.
Imagine if the same level of flooding hit northern New Jersey, directly across from Manhattan. There would have been 500 times more coverage. In fact, there was a real-life example with Superstorm Sandy, which rightly attracted a lot of media attention.
Many shows had a B team, but very few were in charge of the story and commanded the full mobilization.
Very little media, and few politicians, were willing to take the high road in the response to Hurricane Helen. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
I was surprised at the destruction of my show when lead guest Mary Kathryn Hamm (from North Carolina) texted me an hour before airtime, urging me to cover this largely ignored story. I just realized how big it was. It was a packed program, but I gave her a few minutes to talk about it on Media Buzz.
By Monday, perhaps realizing that they were in dire straits, television stations shifted gears and began continuing coverage of North Carolina's plight, interviewing local officials and survivors. But these journalists faced the challenge of traveling to a mountainous region where some towns were isolated and nearly wiped out.
Still, the New York Times and the Washington Post did a great job of having reporters write front-page story after front-page story from the artsy city of Asheville, which was partially submerged by the monster flood.
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As the Times reported, the storm killed “at least 37 people in neighborhoods and communities struggling to cope without water, food, electricity, gasoline or cell phone service. “did.
Washington Post, Canton, North Carolina: “Early Friday morning, Doris Towers woke up to the beeping sound of her husband's dialysis machine, which meant a power outage. Her neighbor's Christmas lights were up from last year. It was still lit, but it was gone. Those were early hints.'' She didn't know that Helen's doom was coming.
“Over the mountains of Swannanoa, Joe Dancy and Jenna Shaw woke up before dawn to walk their dog and saw the floodwaters creeping towards their house. An hour later, they was able to climb out the window with the help of the National Guard.
Former President Trump has already visited Valdosta, Georgia, which was devastated by Helen. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Biden, who is visiting North Carolina today (Kamala Harris is also planning a visit), addressed the nation with his trademark empathy on Monday morning: As long as it takes. ”
But the president, who had been coughing due to a cold, should have delivered that speech on Sunday. That would have encouraged journalists to take action. That's because they often go after the White House, giving the impression that no one is in charge.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump visited a shelter in Valdosta, Georgia, and read from a memo, saying:
President Trump launches GOFUNDME to help Hurricane Helen victims, raising more than $1 million
“As you know, our country is in the final weeks of a highly contested national election. In times like these, when we are in crisis and when our fellow citizens are crying out for help, none of that matters. It's not about politics now, it's about us all coming together to solve this problem. ”
Importantly, President Trump worked with Franklin Graham, son of Pastor Billy, who heads a Christian relief organization, to bring in a large amount of supplies.
However, the former president did not stay on that royal road for long. He posted that Biden and Harris “drown Americans in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and other parts of the South.”
Former President Trump claimed that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) was unable to contact President Biden. The latter two both refute this. (Reuters/Anna Rose Leyden)
FEMA officials are working hard, with more than 3,300 federal employees on the scene, and Harris has canceled several events to receive briefings from Administrator Dean Criswell. He returned to Washington and addressed local officials about the “heartbreaking” loss.
Mr. Trump also claimed that Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was unable to contact Mr. Biden. But Kemp told reporters he had spoken to Biden, and the president “offered to call me directly if I needed anything else, which I appreciated.” Ta.
“He's lying, and the governor told him he was lying,” Biden said. “I don't know why he would do this. I don't care what he says about me. What I care about is what he says to people in need. He is implying that we are not doing everything we can. We are.”
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President Trump also suggested without evidence that the Biden-Harris administration was intentionally not helping Republicans in red counties.
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Perhaps it was inevitable that partisan politics would take over the crisis that devastated many southern states. And I'm glad that cable news, which was mostly dormant all weekend, is now giving us full coverage.
