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Don’t Believe The ‘Media Hype’ Hype: Howard Kurtz Wrong On Irene Coverage

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by Colby Hall | 11:30 am, August 29th, 2011

» 27 comments

The only thing more predictable than the swallows return to Capistrano is the very use of the Capistrano swallows as banal trend metaphor in a media criticism piece. But a close second in the growing list of media criticism cliché is the post-event hand-wringing alleging overwrought news coverage. Case in point, the Monday morning quarterbacking done by many media critics’ breathlessly taking news outlets to task for ostensibly over-hyping the potential effects of Hurricane Irene.

First, some basic facts: roughly 65 million U.S. citizens live in what meteorologists correctly predicted to be Hurricane’s path of landfall on the East Coast. Starting roughly Wednesday of last week, elected officials began issuing warnings of the potential danger of the looming Hurricane, which worked itself to a fever pitch on Friday, culminating with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg issuing a mandatory evacuation warning to city residents living in the areas most in danger. Along the way, it was reasonably reported that the real danger with the Hurricane was not necessarily the high winds, but rather the flooding that would result from the storm surge and high tide. As the politicians ratcheted up their rhetoric, many in the media reported on the dire warnings, and yes, in some cases, amplified what was being said. But was it responsible reporting? Or “scaremongering,” as some have alleged?

Perhaps the best example of the banal form of media criticism in this case is today’s column written by Howard Kurtz for The Daily Beast. In a post titled “A Hurricane of Hype” with a far more damning Dek that read “Irene fell far short of the media’s dire warnings even before it was downgraded. Howard Kurtz on the scaremongering by television and local officials.”

Kurtz wrote:

Someone has to say it: cable news was utterly swept away by the notion that Irene would turn out to be Armageddon. National news organizations morphed into local eyewitness-news operations, going wall to wall for days with dire warnings about what would turn out to be a Category 1 hurricane, the lowest possible ranking. “Cable news is scaring the crap out of me, and I WORK in cable news,” Bloomberg correspondent Lizzie O’Leary tweeted.

I say this with all due respect to the millions who were left without power, to those communities facing flooding problems, and of course to the families of the 11 people (at last count) who lost their lives in storm-related accidents.

Here’s where I admit to paying particularly close attention to the news. I live in an area of Brooklyn that is very close to the tidal estuary known as the East River. In fact, the building I live in is located on Water Street, also known as the dividing line between evacuation zones A and B. Those of us who were likely to be most affected by Irene (and paid close attention to news reports) knew that the category force winds were not the issue to be leery of (as Kurtz suggests), but rather the flooding that would come from the storm surge and high tide.

As it turns out, I decided on Friday to follow through with my long-made plans of taking my sons to Cooperstown, NY. I have an 8 and 4 year-old, and my wife and I had promised a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame roughly a month ago; the fact that our departure coincided with a mandatory evacuation seemed to be great timing. And yes, the neighborhood that we left had some minor flooding, but certainly nothing that was life threatening, or even inconveniencing to its residents. We watched the breathless news reports on television and I noticed many on my Twitter that seemed strangely disappointed in weakness of the storm.

The truth is that the Hurricane’s force abated rather significantly as in the hours that led up to its New York metropolitan area landfall, a time span that occurred between the hours of midnight and roughly 8AM when made its second landfall after first barreling into the outer banks of North Carolina.

Even so, the “downgraded” Irene was no shrinking violet. Publisher of The BRAD BLOG and radio host Brad Friedman notes, relentlessly, that Kurtz’s cries of “hype!” fell as bitterly as torrential rains on those devastated by her, and provides photographic evidence to back it up:

Really, Howard, I am sorry that your reliably regular Sunday morning show on CNN was preempted this morning and you were unable to bring us important planned coverage, including “NYT’s Tom Friedman on lame political coverage; the media scrutinize Rick Perry, and the breaking of UMiami’s football scandal,” as 14 people had already inconveniently died by showtime today from the hype hurricane.

For Kurtz to suggest that the cable news outlets were guilty of “scaremongering” neglects a much bigger part of the story: many elected officials were first to use hyperbole to get the attention of their constituents. An unnamed official in Stone Harbor, New Jersey even suggested to citizens that refused to leave the beach front community “they write their name, address, Social Security number and next of kin on a 3-inch-by-5-inch card and then place it in their left shoe.”

But to hear Kurtz tell it, the NPR report of this comment reveals something worse.

The symbiotic relationship between television and local officials played a huge role. Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor who was all over television on Sunday morning, had drawn saturation coverage with his blunt warnings to “get the hell off the beach.” New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who ordered evacuations of low-lying areas, has been a constant presence. President Obama and FEMA officials made sure to generate their share of news as well.

These officials have a responsibility to plan for worst-case scenarios, of course, but something more blatantly political is at work. Mayors and governors need to be seen as on top of the crisis, which means being visible on the tube. No one wants to be the next Ray Nagin or Heckuva Job Brownie, looking disorganized after Katrina. A badly handled snowstorm has contributed to more than one mayor’s defeat.

So on Kurtz’s esteem, it seems that the cable news producers who interviewed the Governors and Mayors of the highly populated areas effected by Irene were enabling the “blatant” political efforts of those who are responsible for preparation, rescue and recovery efforts of a natural disaster. Was the storm as bad as had been predicted? No, and thank goodness for that. But to suggest that the news media should be somehow prescient of the scale of a disaster in the moments before it occurs, then to blame, in hindsight, that there was some sort of over hyping is impossibly both naive and cynical.

As coda to our trip, we drove back to Brooklyn yesterday and found our neighborhood dry as a bone when we arrived. The four-hour drive took us eight hours because of the vast number of roads closed by downed trees, power lines and flash floods from encroaching rivers and streams. We saw first hand how many homes near lakes and streams were either sitting in two feet of water or were threatened by gushing streams dangerously close to their foundations. We also witnessed many emergency workers (most of the small-town volunteer type) giving up their Sunday day-off to help those effected by the storm.

The most tragic part of this, at least according to Kurtz’s apparent system of priorities, is that he didn’t, instead, focus his criticism on the way media outlets covered the storm, with the pointless, even dangerous reporters-in-the-wind showboating that attends every storm. At least then, he could have been predictable and right.

As this footage of the 140 year-old Bartonsville Bridge in Vermont vividly demonstrates, it wasn’t the media that got carried away by Hurricane Irene:

Howard Kurtz, Hurricane Irene, Media Criticism

http://twitter.com/TheGrottoTweets Laurie Beth

EXCELLENT. Why anyone with half a brain gives Howie Kurtz the time of day is beyond me. Well done, Mr. Hall.
http://twitter.com/TheGrottoTweets Laurie Beth

Psst…you might not want to capitalize “hurricane” unless you’re actually typing out its title, Hurricane Irene–you know, lest you be accused of hype. ;-)
Anonymous

I don’t live anywhere near the East Coast but I watched the hurricane coverage on Fox News and CNN. I saw all of the political figures, governors, mayors, Federal officials, etc., telling the people who live in the predicted path of Hurricane Irene to get the hell out. Hurricane Katrina didn’t kill many people with its hurricane force winds, it was the storm surge and flooding that cause the most damage. Hurricane Irene may have not been as strong as Hurricane Katrina but it too caused huge storm surges, and even as I watch the news now I’m seeing covered bridges float away, roads with huge chunks missing.

Did the politicos over hype Hurricane Irene, I don’t think so. They were doing the best they could with the information they had to protect the citizens living in the path of the hurricane. Scientists can predict the approximate path of a hurricane, but science still can not predict the strength of said hurricane.

I think this was a case of “better safe than dead”.
Anonymous

My complaint is not so much with the overall hype, but rather the self-centered hype. Just because most media personalities/producers/executives LIVE in New York, it is suddenly a much bigger story than if it didn’t affect THEMSELVES. Where were the warnings of torrential inland rains, swollen rivers and Vermont flooding 5-days ahead of time? My point is illustrated with the video you chose to attach above. Without a compelling photograph/video, the media has no story of the rest of what Irene could have done/did do. There’s still 20-1 representation in Battery Park vs. Vermont and other truly affected areas. Does anybody really nead to ask why?
Ralph

It’s all a sideshow to distract from the economny. They’re not really hype-ing the hurricane as much as they are attempting to distract.

Some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.
Mathmatix BN

Yes because thats what natural disasters do, they distract us from the economy with death and destruction and billions in damages. When that rain comes to wash the scum off the streets, I hope it washes those who are more concerned with the political ramifications with a storm, rather than the safety of those affected by the storm, away as well.

Funny, I wasnt hearing any anti-government statements from the tea party in affected areas
ElJeffyBovido

Some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.

——————————————————————————————–

Bu… bu… bu… but I thought you like the tea baggeds.
Anonymous

With each of his tired bleatings, “Howie The Hack” Kurtz becomes more irrelevant. Does that guy ever leave CNN Studios or the National Press Corps building?
Anonymous

With each of his tired bleatings, “Howie The Hack” Kurtz becomes more irrelevant. Does that guy ever leave CNN Studios or the National Press Corps building?
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

That’s the point that I just made in another thread. I don’t recall any hype about Vermont and Upstate New York flooding, instead most of the non-NYC reporting was concentrated on the coast which should easily be able to withstand a Category 1 or 2 and which fared pretty well.
Anonymous

After what the media did to President Bush after Katrina, is it any wonder every politician stood up and said something? Bush declared a state of emergency days before Katrina hit, it hit in five states and yet LA was the one where the biggest disaster happened (being below sea level didn’t help). nagin and Blanco were dangereously incompetent, but they were democrats so the media blamed Bush and his republican team.

Watching that level of slander, no politician wants to be exposed to it again, ever…especially republicans.

The storm was over hyped by the media, they wanted a comparison between Obama and Bush so they could praise Obama while they continue to trash Bush. It is just how the media operate these days.
Anonymous

I think most of the southeastern/gulf states reacted the same way the year following Katrina but I think the reaction was simply because of the fact that we really have had a pretty dry hurricane season thus far.

The coverage was a bit overdone, IMHO and seemed more like an attempt at staying relevant in the path of the storm. I can totally understand The Weather Channel working the coverage…but i’m not sure that we needed MSNBC, CNN, HLN and FNC all covering it as if it’s the first time any hurricane has ever been covered.

And a healthy BOOO to AMC for running The Perfect Storm yesterday afternoon. Programming fail!
imomsixi

The Tea Party is not an organization. It is not the demon obama b.s’s about. It is american citizens from all walks of live, all back grounds and all determined to stop the distruction of our country at the hands of obama.
Quit buying into the ridiculous bull s____, and really take a look at who the Tea Party is. Try reading a book about the founding fathers and their fight over tyranny. Bears a strong resemblence to four for fathers struggles.
http://twitter.com/runforfun54 Ilene K

Umm, no they are NOT from all walks of live, all backgrounds, nor are they “determined to stop the dEstruction of our country…” They are, by and large, ignorant, homophobic, hateful, and yes, racist Americans – almost all white. They are NOT invented by Obama. Nobody would even give a crap about them if the freaking media didn’t cover them like they were special. What I DO know is that the Tea Party and GOP have lower approval ratings than our President, so … what does that tell you.

BTW, how is the DEADBEAT DAD Joe Walsh Hero of yours doing?

And if I were you, rather than suggesting those of us who have a clue, to “read a book” I would suggest you learn to read and to spell.
JoeP-goskins-55

I think it’s very interesting that the New Orleans Mayor Nagin’s deficiency and lateness in coordinating with the Feds has come to light during this past week with FEMA coordination being discussed so much this past week; i.e., Bloomberg, Christie et al don’t want to make the same mistakes Nagin did. By inference the media are making at least partial admission that much of the fault for the lack of preparedness leading up to Katrina goes properly on the shoulders of the local politicians, i.e., Nagin, and not so much at the Federal level where the press beat up on Bush (and blamed everything else on Bush, of course.)

Now on to Howard Kurtz. I think Kurtz made excellent points regarding the Irene coverage that the media just doesn’t want to hear. Why is that? Is it because good preparedness makes Obama and the Dems look good? Is it just simply that the ratings got really good during this hurricane week and all they care about is ratings and advertising dollars?

Even with 65 million people potentially affected by Irene, there was simply no need to cover it so continuously as to allow NO OTHER NEWS to be reported on. The same footage over and over ad nauseam. Conversations between anchors and reporters on the ground of innocuous, unimportant details that were obviously to fill in time while the producer located some other reporter with something juicy to report on, like three inches of water on one side of the street or whatever catastrophe occurred that got someone’s shoes wet. (OMG, a lifeguard shack moved at about 3 miles an hour for about 20 feet and smacked into the boardwalk!!! Armegeddon!!!) That film was repeated at least a zillion times over the next few hours, as there wasn’t much else that was so exciting to watch. Was that really necessary?

So, I get Howard Kurtz’s point, and I also understand why media types want to defend their grossly excessive coverage of this event. After all, they wanna bring home a paycheck just like the rest of us! And idiots like me actually spent lots of time watching this stuff over and over and over . . .

For this event, I think a more balanced approach would have been perhaps 10 to 15 minutes per hour of Irene coverage to keep everyone up-to-date, with the rest of the hour of normal coverage.
http://twitter.com/runforfun54 Ilene K

I live in New York City. We dodged a HUGE bullet and I think our Mayor was 100% correct in doing what he did. We were four inches from a devastating downtown flood that would have cut power off to tens of thousands, including Wall Street. There was no way to know that this storm was going to be downgraded at the last minute — I certainly would’t have wanted our mayor or our governor to have waited to make a decision at that time. How would you have undertaken the evacuations in one hour?
Anonymous

ILENE, I am a TEA Party member, and I guess you’ve got me. I have to admit when you are right, you are right. The Tea Party, Quote: “are, by and large, ignorant, homophobic, hateful, and yes, racist Americans–almost all white.” That part of your comment/assertion is ENTIRELY UNTRUE.

However, we’d just assume you didn’t come to any of our soirees, as you and you compatriots, tend to be morose, dour and humorless, that everybody leaves early… So, we’d like if you didn’t come… LOL

Purveyor
http://smallthoughtsfromasmallmind.wordpress.com/ Small Thoughts

The hurrican will be over-hyped again as the Obama minions fan out and blame it for the poor economy.
Anonymous

All media is dependent on ratings. This is why they all over hype everything that happens. They all beg for individuals to send them photos & videos to put on the air.

Minute to Minute coverage should be done by the Weather Channel and all other outlets should give 5-minute updates on the hour & half-hour.
Firstrate

Screw you Howard. I hope you don’t suffer through the trauma of something like this storm. You are a jerk, I used to watch your show. I will not use any product that advertises with you for the next year.
Firstrate

Obviously many of the commenters here did not suffer from the storm. You lack compassion. If you were affected by the storm it is a big expensive mess and no fun, insurance or not.
Anonymous

It’s not that the media covers these hurricanes too much. It’s that they cover them too stupidly.
BLUEBUNNY

LOST RESPECT FOR YOU PURVEYOR! THOUGHT ALL THIS TIME YOU HAD SOME BRAINS! THIS ADMISSION HAS RENDERED YOUR OPINIONS MUTE!
BLUEBUNNY

HEY IDIOT BOT NO ONE DID ANYTHING TO “W”! HE DESERVED EVERYTHING HE GOT! HISTORY WILL NOT BE KIND TO ANY OF THOSE INVOLVED!
Anonymous

TO BLUE BUNNY:

Quote:) “You and your compatriots tend to be morose, dour and humorless.” Case in Point! LOL

Touche’
MUMZER

Howie Kurtz is a provincial putz …always was !

Nothing changes .
Sandie

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