MRC's Graham Hits Media Over-Hype of 'Hurricane' Irene
Tim Graham, the Media Research Center's Director of Media Analysis, appeared on the Fox Business Channel, Monday, to discuss the media's hyperbolic coverage of "Hurricane" Irene.
Graham asserted, "Well, I don't think there's any doubt that the media are interested in trying to cover this 24/7 and it's a little hard to sell it as tropical storm coverage for hours and hours." Speaking of Al Sharpton's political hyping of the storm, Graham quipped, "He is not a meteorologist."
[See video below.]
He added, "There's no doubt that there was, you know, a lot of commercial reason to hype this thing as a hurricane. And as you suggest from Katrina, they have become politicized events as well."
A hurricane must reach winds of 74 miles an hour to qualify as catagory one . Irene only managed, for example, winds of 56 and 71 MPH (in Philadelphia and Cape May, New Jersey).
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Al Not-So-Sharpton considers
Submitted by Beukeboom on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 12:02pm.
Al Not-So-Sharpton considers himself an expert on whatever he's speaking about at that moment.
Funny he appears on Fox to complain
Submitted by vaboxrboy on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 12:42pm.
They did just as much hyping as anyone else. Everyone had skin in this game and the backlash will determine how things get covered from now on.
Guilty!
Submitted by Tim Graham on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 8:07pm.
Yes, chuck, I admit when I was talking about panic-stricken talk of flooded subways that was Shep Smith that I heard doing it.
Shep Smith - "Tough Guy" Screaming
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 9:04pm.
In - er - "reporting" during disasters, Shep Smith does do panic-stricken and self-righteous indignation better than almost anyone in the media - with the possible exception of Geraldo. They should do a face-off sometime to see just who is better at it.
Just a thought
Submitted by jon_torlin on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 1:02pm.
Just a thought, but wouldn't it have been better to be calm about the whole thing, give calm instructions/suggestions about what to do, what to look for, and give people the chance to realize that this wasn't the deadly killer that they hoped it would have been?
We know that the MSM was largely trying to capitalize(oooh, evil capitalism!) on the fear which backfired on them ROYALLY, but what if they had just been cool about the whole thing and kept it professional?
Look at EMTs for example. When they come to a scene of some incident, a car crash for example, they take in the situation, try to gather as many facts as they can and make the best decision for the victim's well-being while at the same time remaining calm and try to re-assure the victim no matter how severe the situation is and get that victim the proper care.
Can you imagine those EMTs arriving instead and take in the situation and go into histrionics, "Oh my GAWD, look at all that blood! Oh no, there's a bone sticking out! What's that big hole in his head, oh snap, you're gonna die!!!" while waving his hands around like an idiot while ignoring pretty much everything? Of course not!
But that was basically the reaction of the MSM with Irene.
The MSM should be embarrassed at themselves for this.
-Jon
Danger both ways here
Submitted by deadeyedan on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 1:54pm.
Confusion reigns here. Tim's point is well taken, but a pretty fair amount of caution is due.
First, a tropically generated system need only have a small portion of its circulation having 74 mile per hour winds to be classified as a hurricane, and just because a couple of stations in its path did not reach that threshold does not mean that somewhere, say, a little out to sea or some remote point without an anemometer there wasn't 74+ mile per hour winds, justifying the classification.
Second, the upper half of the wind velocity criteria for tropical storm qualification more than meets the threshold for what the Storm Prediction Center considers a severe storm, 58+ miles per hour. That's because at that velocity the wind can pull a tree branch down on your car of sufficient mass to crash through the roof and kill you. It's enough to pull live power lines down that can electrocute you. When it comes to lethal force, hurricanes need not apply. Gale force (and especially whole gale force) winds are not to be taken lightly.
Third, unlike a severe storm, a hurricane will generate a storm surge on the sea even if it's not particularly strong (it just has to be large in extent, as Irene was). The best a severe storm can do is generate a seiche or a few big waves.
Fourth, though track forecasting has improved over the years, intensity forecasting has a ways to go. Irene could have strengthened as it approached Cape Hatteras, but as it hit it was going through a temporary weakening phase called eye-wall replacement cycle, when a hurricane loses its cloud deck around the eye to be replaced by another pile up of cloud mass. Because it happened as it struck land, there was no opportunity to regain that eye-wall and it weakened. There is very little even the very best meteorologists can do to foresee that.
So belittling this event and its hype is rather dangerous because no one will believe it next time even if it possesses the power of an Andrew, Katrina or Camille.
There is great danger even in minimal hurricane conditions and the weather service really should be treated a bit more gently here.
The media is another story altogether, though, as they have used it for agenda/propaganda purposes as well as what Tim suggests, commercial purposes.
They keep pushing that global warming superstition.
Global warming - authoritarian, rather than authoritative, science
ClimateGate - the revelation that the pseudo-scientists at East Anglia University know just as much about the atmosphere as Harvard law professors know about the Constitution
Pledging Allegiance to Science?
Submitted by Tim Graham on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 8:05pm.
Guys, I'm more comfortable talking about the political exploitation of hurricane than I am with the weather facts. I wish I had driven the Katrina-replay part harder, but that's not where the questions were going.
I would think that media people who always insist that "Science" demands we bow to global-warming remedies ought to define a hurricane by a precise definition and not get cute with it.
The way I pointed it out
Submitted by jon_torlin on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 10:39pm.
That's why I used the analogy of the EMTs in my post above, Mr. Graham, because that was a perfect example of what we were seeing in the day or two prior to the first landfall of Irene.
Those idiots were literally panicking over something that was by comparisons inconsequential instead of addressing the real problems which were the end results of the storm. They were expecting something of epic/movie proportions.
And got seriously disappointed.
-Jon
→ Hurricane Zetuni
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 4:08pm.
OK, that's a lot of named storms, but it's happened before.
The problem with the overhype
Submitted by Gat New York on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 8:14pm.
The problem with the overhype was what they were hyping and therefore ignorning.
This storm ended up having much worse effects than initially predicted - but not the effects that spoke about.
What has been ignored by the press was the unexpected devastation in many part of New Jersey, upstate New York, and even as far north as Vermont.
The MSM's agenda was not on the weather but on Obama's ability to show leadership and command during this hurricane as well as try to make it part of the renewed effort to sell climate change.
Gat
Submitted by Radical1979 on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 8:50pm.
Good points. This storm was devastating for some people, and very costly for many more. It will take some of us a long time to recover.
Weather, like medicine, will never be 100% accurate. They can only base predictions on what has happened in the past and how often. It's gambling really.
That said, we still need warnings so that people can be prepared. Perhaps it was over hyped, but still, eighteen people died. The number could have been higher.
Instead of "mandatory evacuations" we should have "emergency services free evacuations", meaning that during the evacuation period, people who stay will not receive any help from emergency personnel until the situation has cleared. And people should be expect to have enough supplies on hand to sustain them until help can arrive, no matter how long it takes.
Big Apple-centric
Submitted by Tim Graham on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 11:08pm.
I do wonder if NY-based media were a little TOO obsessed with what would happen to NYC, and not care as much about Vermont....
Great job Tim
Submitted by Boudin on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 8:16pm.
Thanks!
Stay alert Mr Graham*
Submitted by cajun2 on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 8:37pm.
There is another one brewing and is expected to enter the Gulf by Friday. Lets see if the media get all panicky if a Cat 4 hits south La. like they did for Rita, Gustov, and Ike.../sarc
Are you referring to TS
Submitted by Beukeboom on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 11:15am.
Are you referring to TS Katia? If so the current models have it going anywhere from just east of San Juan, PR to going well north of San Juan. Either track at this time give it no shot at going into the Gulf. It's a bit too early to tell but the forecast models all indicate it curving northward and perhaps skirting the east coast or staying out in the Atlantic to far away from land.
Currently there is a tropical wave in the northwestern Caribbean that is being watched that could form into a tropical depression.
See: Accuweather.com
Sorry Beuke*
Submitted by cajun2 on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 11:29am.
TS Katia or any other storms headed to the Atlantic dont bother me. But locally, the weather folks are watching closely a new wave that has all the perfect scenario for LEE.
Head for Texas!
Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 11:37am.
We're hoping it'll head for Texas. The humidity around here has been less than 10% the last few days in the afternoons. Reminds me of Vegas.
-Jon
That's the one
Submitted by Beukeboom on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 12:05pm.
That's the one of which I referred. We're on the same page. I hope it never gets beyond a tropical depression and comes north to Tallahassee. We need the rain.
La wins*
Submitted by cajun2 on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 4:51pm.
We need the rain
Here's the potential track, Caj & Beuke
Submitted by Blonde on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 5:00pm.
Invest #93. Kind of hinky tracks right now.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
The meteorologists I've heard
Submitted by Beukeboom on Thu, 09/01/2011 - 10:32am.
The meteorologists I've heard so far have stated it's really too early to get an accurate forecast since the steering currents are weak. Several of them point out the loop-the-loop track from one of the forecast tracks. Give it a day or so and it'll start to be more apparent. They are watching a cold front that may influence both Hurricane Katia and this system out in the Gulf.
As I am typing this (2pm
Submitted by Beukeboom on Thu, 09/01/2011 - 2:00pm.
As I am typing this (2pm eastern time), several online news sources from S.E. Louisiana and coastal Mississippi are indicating the "system has 70% chance at becoming a tropical cyclone within the next 48 hours" (via NOLA.com) and at the moment flash flood watches and coastal flooding watches have been issued for three counties in Mississippi (Hancock, Harrison & Jackson -- via WLOX.com). Also, "nearly 100 meteorologists at AccuWeather is that this will be an extensive, slow-moving system, capable of affecting the same areas for days with downpours, stormy seas and rough surf conditions" (Accuweather).
LA? Lower Alabama? :-)
Submitted by Beukeboom on Thu, 09/01/2011 - 10:29am.
LA? Lower Alabama? :-)
Beuke*
Submitted by cajun2 on Thu, 09/01/2011 - 6:51pm.
The local weather casters are talking about this tropical depression in the Gulf hanging around the gulf coast from Friday to Monday. From Mobile to Lake Charles is expected to get rain from 12 to 20" by Sunday. Inland up to Baton Rouge west they are talking about possibly 6'' to 10" in 24 hrs starting Friday morning. Serious flood warnings are already being issued for all of coastal Miss. and La. A low pressure area will keep this storm stationary throughout the weekend which could result in serious flooding for New Orleans and eastward as well as south central La.
Looks like Obama will have another excuse to sue La for damaging the marsh or whatever.
Yup...I just read the reports
Submitted by Beukeboom on Fri, 09/02/2011 - 10:15am.
Yup...I just read the reports this morning and the storm has barely moved. Unless it picks up some forward momentum via steering currents it's going to dump a ton of rain wherever it comes ashore. New Orleans officials are concerned and rightly so since their new pumps haven't really had anything like that come through.
From Accuweather.com
"It is possible Lee could be a Louisiana version of Allison (2001). Tropical Storm Allison stalled around the upper Texas Coast in June of 2001 and unloaded up to 40 inches of rain and disastrous flooding with damage at over $5 billion. Governor Bobby Jindal placed Louisiana in a State of Emergency in anticipation of Lee's impact.
While a very slow, steady movement northward is projected with Lee at this time, there is room for the system to stall or double back on itself. Even a slow, steady-moving tropical storm or hurricane can bring tremendous rainfall."
Forecasts
Submitted by km2002 on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 2:26am.
I don't know about your neck of the woods, friends of all; I was watching my locals (WJZ in particular) and didn't get the impression they were overhyping it at all. They were calmly reporting on what was going on, especially from Ocean City, MD (as long as conditions permitted), advising residents of the state of affairs, dutifully reporting on the lives lost (two in Maryland as of today) as well as the life-threatening situations across the area. I would rather a little heavy on the potential than shifting into a "cry wolf" mode and finding we're suddenly having a cat 4 storm as a lunch guest.