Irene and east coast media bias

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we ignoring all of the west coast hurricanes?

Please name a West Coast hurricane.

"Hurricanes form both in the Atlantic basin, to the east of the continental U.S. (that is, in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea), and in the Northeast Pacific basin, to the west of the U.S. The hurricanes in the Northeast Pacific almost never hit the U.S., however, whereas the ones in the Atlantic basin strike the U.S. mainland just less than twice a year on average.

"There are two main reasons for this disparity. The first is that hurricanes in the northern hemisphere form at tropical and subtropical latitudes and then tend to move toward the west-northwest. In the Atlantic, such a motion often brings the hurricane into the vicinity of the East Coast of the U.S. In the Northeast Pacific, the same west-northwest track carries hurricanes farther offshore, well away from the U.S. West Coast.

[Anonymous]

I actually heard a lot about the Nashville flooding, but I
1. Have family near there and 2. (gasp) Listen to country radio.

[Anonymous]

I heard about the Nashville flooding and don't have family there. I also do not listen to country music. But, more to the main point of this thread, hurricanes don't typically pre-file their travel plans. If it turned a little differently, or earlier or later, depending, we could have had a direct hit. And we're awfully lucky it weakened to a category 1 rather than staying a category 3. I've seen firsthand what a category 4 storm can do 150 miles inland from where it made landfall. Not pretty at all.

[Anonymous]

OP is right. If it happens on the East Coast, it's exponentially more important as news than whatever goes on in the rest of the country. While I'm a true blue liberal, I can't help but agree with those who lives elsewhere and think that the media represents, above all else, the views, lives, and biases of people on the coasts.

Right now I'm watching CNN coverage and thinking that my parents went through Category IV hurricane Ike without a tenth as much coverage.

[Anonymous]

Really so the local washington, dc news should break programing to cover Ike? Please, the cables covered it all the same. Same guy in the storm, driving around looking for damage. Before this storm it was the Texas heatwave. I am sure they are breaking into local programing in the fly over states right now about this hurricane..not! Seemed like there was a lot coverage of New Orleans during and after it's hurricane. Well we know Fox News would never cover this liberal media made up story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we ignoring all of the west coast hurricanes?

Please name a West Coast hurricane.

"Hurricanes form both in the Atlantic basin, to the east of the continental U.S. (that is, in the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea), and in the Northeast Pacific basin, to the west of the U.S. The hurricanes in the Northeast Pacific almost never hit the U.S., however, whereas the ones in the Atlantic basin strike the U.S. mainland just less than twice a year on average.

"There are two main reasons for this disparity. The first is that hurricanes in the northern hemisphere form at tropical and subtropical latitudes and then tend to move toward the west-northwest. In the Atlantic, such a motion often brings the hurricane into the vicinity of the East Coast of the U.S. In the Northeast Pacific, the same west-northwest track carries hurricanes farther offshore, well away from the U.S. West Coast.

I was being sarcastic. When was the last hurricane that hit the west coast? Thus the notion of east coast bias is kind of silly. They get plenty of coverage for wildfires, earthquakes, and mudslides. The Midwest gets coverage for tornadoes and floods.

[Anonymous]

Here's some drama . . .


http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/fox-reporter-gives-update-covered-in-sea-foam-20110827

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:8 dead 800,000 out of power in VA and 500,000 out in NC. And mayor. Bloomberg is calling for evacuations. I don't think the press made that up.

I do think however that there are people who only think something is important I'd it affects them. Actually I don't think much of those people.

Right, the hurricane affected a lot of people. Why Local NBC, ABC, and CBS ran 24 hour coverage of the storm in this region doesn't address this. You know what? Haiti still has not recovered from their earthquake, but I would be surprised to wake up today and find all coverage of anything else has stopped to address that.

The local coverage was ridiculous and embarrassing. Why I was constantly seeing footage of NC ALL DAY makes no sense. The local media was irresponsible and yes, they did it for ratings and web hits. National news is another story, since it did affect others. I don't think seeing two dozen man on the street interviews of people hitting local bars in Annapolis in any way helped enlighten us about the devastation in other parts of the country or world.

[Anonymous]

they did it because people wanted to watch it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 dead 800,000 out of power in VA and 500,000 out in NC. And mayor. Bloomberg is calling for evacuations. I don't think the press made that up.

I do think however that there are people who only think something is important I'd it affects them. Actually I don't think much of those people.

Right, the hurricane affected a lot of people. Why Local NBC, ABC, and CBS ran 24 hour coverage of the storm in this region doesn't address this. You know what? Haiti still has not recovered from their earthquake, but I would be surprised to wake up today and find all coverage of anything else has stopped to address that.

The local coverage was ridiculous and embarrassing. Why I was constantly seeing footage of NC ALL DAY makes no sense. The local media was irresponsible and yes, they did it for ratings and web hits. National news is another story, since it did affect others. I don't think seeing two dozen man on the street interviews of people hitting local bars in Annapolis in any way helped enlighten us about the devastation in other parts of the country or world.

The fact that you were seeing it ALL DAY answers your own question. You watch, therefore they broadcast.