Television news, with a few exceptions, completely missed the unimaginable devastation that occurred in the West North Carolina Over the weekend.
Once Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and headed inland, officials assumed its strength would diminish. Instead, cities like Asheville, and East TennesseeThey were hit by floods of almost Biblical proportions, leaving a trail of impassable roads and collapsed bridges.
Why wasn’t this the main story everywhere?
To put it bluntly, North Carolina is just a blip on the radar of the coastal media elite, dismissed as fly-over country. Most news organizations do not have a single reporter.
President Biden Only statements were made over the weekend that gave the sense that this was not a Katrina-level crisis. Eight months after that 2005 hurricane, I visited New Orleans and was stunned to see miles and miles of deserted suburban homes damaged by flooding.
Imagine if the same level of flooding occurred in northern New Jersey, right across the street from Manhattan. There would have been 500 times more coverage. In fact, we had a real-life example in Superstorm Sandy, which attracted huge media attention.
Many shows had B teams, some of whom took over and ordered full-scale rework on the story.
Few media outlets – or politicians, for that matter – were willing to take responsibility or take the high road in dealing with Hurricane Helene. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
I was just processing the magnitude of the devastation on my show when main guest Mary Katharine Hamm, who is from North Carolina, messaged me an hour before broadcast time and inspired me to cover a story that was largely covered. Was being ignored till now. It was a packed event, but I gave him a few minutes to talk about it on “Media Buzz.”
By Monday, perhaps realizing they looked terrible, TV outlets shifted gears and began relentless coverage of North Carolina’s plight, interviewing local officials and survivors. But their reporters faced the challenge of reaching a mountainous region that was isolated and in some towns almost completely destroyed.
And yet The New York Times and The Washington Post did a fantastic job of assigning their reporters to produce one front page story after another from the city of Asheville, an artsy town partially submerged by the monstrous flood.
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As the Times said, the storm “killed at least 37 people in the region and communities that struggled without water, food, electricity, gasoline and cellphone service.”
From the Washington Post, Canton, NC: “Doris Towers woke up Friday morning to the beeping of her husband’s dialysis machine, which meant she was out of power. Her neighbor’s Christmas lights, which were still on from last year, These were early signs that Helen was doomed, little did she know that a storm was on the way.
“Across the mountains in Swannanoa, Joe Dancy and Jenna Shaw woke up to walk their dog before dawn and saw floodwaters moving toward their home. An hour later, they climbed out a window with the help of a National Guard soldier. Were coming out of.”
Former President Trump has already traveled to Hurricane-ravaged Valdosta, Georgia. (AP Photo/Ivan Vucci)
Biden, who will visit North Carolina today – kamala harris Is also planning a visit – addressed the nation with his trademark empathy on Monday morning: “I am here to tell every single person left in these affected areas that we will be with you for as long as it takes.”
But the President, who kept coughing due to cold, should have given that speech on Sunday. This may have inspired journalists to take action, as they often follow white HouseAnd instead left the impression that no one was in charge.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump in Valdosta, Ga. Visited a shelter in the U.S. and, reading from notes, said:
Trump launches GoFundMe to help Hurricane Helene victims, raises over $1M
“As you know, our country is in the final weeks of a difficult national election. At a time when there is a crisis, when our fellow citizens are crying out in need, none of that matters. We are about I am not talking politics now. We all have to find a solution to this.”
Importantly, Trump brought plenty of supplies, working with the Rev. Billy’s son, Franklin Graham, who heads a Christian relief group.
But the former President did not stay on that high road for long. He posted that Biden and Harris “have left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.”
Former President Trump claimed that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, was unable to reach President Biden. The latter two have denied this. (Reuters/Anna Rose Leyden)
FEMA officials are working furiously – more than 3,300 federal agents are on the ground – and Harris, canceling several events, returned to Washington for a briefing from agency head Dean Criswell, and a “heartbreaking” account of the losses. Addressed the officials there regarding this.
Trump also claimed this GOP Georgia Governor Brian Kemp Couldn’t reach Biden. But Kemp told reporters that he spoke to Biden and the president “offered that if there are other things we would call him directly, which – I appreciated.”
“He’s lying and the governor told him he was lying,” Biden said. “I don’t know why he does it. I don’t care what he says about me. I care what he says to people in need. He means we’re not doing everything possible We are doing it.”
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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 has ravaged many Southern states. And I’m glad that cable news, which was largely quiet over the weekend, is now in full swing with coverage.
