Greetings from the Dothan, Alabama, bureau of the Poynter Institute.
Simply final weekend, I used to be in Vermont with my spouse for one final fast getaway earlier than the election. Whereas we have been climbing and taking within the beautiful autumn foliage, a monster hurricane was brewing within the Gulf of Mexico and setting its sights on the west coast of Florida.
For individuals who don’t know, the Poynter Institute is situated in St. Petersburg, Florida. As Hurricane Milton churned towards the Tampa Bay-Sarasota a part of Florida, many people at Poynter packed our pets and private belongings and headed out of city.
My spouse and I landed again at Tampa Worldwide Airport from our Vermont journey at 2 p.m. Monday afternoon, and by 4 p.m., we have been driving north. Our anticipated six-hour drive from St. Pete to Dothan ended up taking 11 hours, however we made it safely. The car parking zone of our lodge was nothing however automobiles with Florida license plates. We met weary Floridians within the foyer checking in at 2 a.m. Central time after being on the street for 15 hours.
My Poynter colleagues, lots of whom fantastically took care of this article whereas I used to be away, additionally headed out of city to locations comparable to Orlando; Atlanta; Birmingham, Alabama; and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A number of not close to the water determined to observe the mantra of “run from the water, cover from the wind” and hunkered down of their properties throughout the Tampa Bay space.
I’m scripting this Wednesday night simply because the storm approaches landfall. By the point you learn this on Thursday morning, we’ll simply be to start with levels of assessing the harm. We’re getting ready for the worst, however hoping for the very best. We do not know simply but what Milton leaves behind, and the way lengthy it should take for all times to return to regular.
Within the meantime, our purpose is to hold on with the Poynter Report e-newsletter every day. However please bear with us if there are any delays, or if some days, the e-newsletter is just a little shorter than typical, or doesn’t come out in any respect.
So with that, on with at present’s Poynter Report.
Right here’s an statement from afar about hurricane protection. Whereas I respect nationwide protection on cable information networks, in addition to The Climate Channel, nothing is extra useful than the data from native information retailers.
On this case, as somebody who is anxious about family and friends who hunkered down at residence, in addition to nervous in regards to the situation of my residence, I spent many of the day Wednesday watching TV stations from Tampa Bay and studying the Tampa Bay Instances.
Once more, the nationwide retailers provide good protection, though there has lengthy been a query about whether or not the nationwide networks hype up storms and make them appear worse than they’re. I’ve by no means actually subscribed to that idea. If a reporter is standing in knee-deep water or The Climate Channel’s Jim Cantore is getting blown round by 100 mph winds, then that’s what they’re experiencing for the time being.
I watched CNN for a great whereas Wednesday, and located its protection to be encompassing and sobering, however not essentially alarmist or overwrought. And it did give a wonderful sense of what was happening. CNN’s Boris Sanchez was particularly spectacular, typically co-anchoring and conducting interviews whereas standing exterior in Tampa and being pounded by excessive winds and rains.
In the long run, the nationwide retailers give these from across the nation and world a fairly good sense of what’s happening within the impacted areas. As somebody who lives in that space, I can let you know the reporters from nationwide networks, particularly CNN, definitely handed alongside helpful data and had a great deal with on the assorted cities and cities.
In case you’re somebody who lives in New York or Minnesota or Texas and also you need an all-around sense of what’s happening within the Tampa Bay-Bradenton-Sarasota area, then CNN or The Climate Channel does the job.
However in the event you’re somebody from Tampa Bay or Bradenton or Sarasota, you’re turning to native retailers from Tampa Bay and Bradenton and Sarasota. They go from telling you what’s going on within the numerous cities and cities to telling you what it is advisable know in particular neighborhoods of these cities and cities. Additionally they present a way of group for these watching as a result of, as Denis Phillips, chief meteorologist for WFTS/ABC Motion Information in Tampa Bay, mentioned on the air Wednesday, “We reside right here, too. We’re your neighbors, and we’re on this with you.”
How true. That is a kind of instances when native reporting is way extra useful than nationwide reporting for these personally affected by, on this case, a hurricane.
So whereas I spent just a little little bit of time checking in on the nationwide networks Wednesday, most of my day was watching and studying native information from Tampa Bay.
Yet another thought: With regards to storm protection, TV has a bonus over newspapers and text-focused web sites. For 2 causes. One, TV has meteorologists. Most stations in main markets have a number of. And, two, TV can provide reside, in-the-moment protection.
Many stations have apps you may obtain so you may watch protection from both far-off or within the storm, in the event you occur to lose energy. In the meantime, some native newspapers throughout the nation now ship information via textual content messages to those that join, providing among the newest up-to-date details about vital information comparable to speedy climate threats, numerous emergency warnings and different important data to maintain folks knowledgeable and secure.
As well as, I used to be receiving updates by way of e mail on Wednesday night from the Tampa Bay Instances.
An intriguing second performed out on reside TV on Wednesday. Because the storm approached, CNN’s Isabel Rosales talked to a Tampa man named Joseph Malinowski. He’s recognized domestically as “Lieutenant Dan” and lives on a 20-foot sailboat tied all the way down to a dock in downtown Tampa.
Regardless of Tampa police telling him he was going to die if he stayed, Malinowski mentioned he was going to trip out the storm on his boat, including, “I consider in my coronary heart that God desires me to remain out right here till that is throughout.”
CNN reported, “Malinowski mentioned he misplaced his leg at 16-years-old in a scooter accident, survived most cancers, survived an opioid dependancy, and survived Helene in his boat lower than two weeks in the past. He insists he’ll survive Milton.”
Even Rosales pleaded with Malinowski to go away, telling him on air, “I actually hope that you just evacuate as a result of folks died from Helene in conditions precisely like this. Individuals drowned.”
Hillsborough County, the place Tampa is, had 12 shelters obtainable the place Malinowski may go.
There was some confusion as to what occurred after that. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said at a news conference, “The Tampa Police Division, this morning, simply saved Lieutenant Dan. He has been rescued, and he’s now in a shelter as effectively. If we will get Lieutenant Dan to go to a shelter, we will get anyone to do this.”
Then there have been experiences on social media that Malinowski returned to his boat. Later, throughout an interview on CNN, Castor appeared to trace that possibly police would power Malinowski off his boat. When requested if he could be arrested, Castor mentioned, “Effectively … Baker Acted.” The Baker Act is a Florida regulation the place authorities can detain these “who’re impaired due to their psychological sickness, and who’re unable to find out their wants for therapy.”
Vice President Kamala Harris known as in to CNN on Wednesday and blasted Donald Trump over his feedback in regards to the federal authorities’s response to the latest storms.
As The Hill’s Alex Gangitano wrote, “Trump has amplified claims that the federal government is diverting catastrophe response funds to assist migrants and has shared different unfaithful claims, together with that these impacted by Hurricane Helene are solely receiving $750 in help and that there are not any helicopters to rescue folks in North Carolina after the storm.”
As well as, Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene even ridiculously instructed that the federal government can management the climate.
Harris talked to CNN’s Dana Bash about all of it, saying, “Effectively, I’ll let you know, I’ve spoken with native officers who’ve been struggling, for instance, by Hurricane Helene, and they’re doing a unprecedented job in making an attempt to fight the misinformation. And I’m speaking about sheriffs. I’m speaking about mayors. I’m speaking about native officers. I don’t even know their social gathering affiliation, by the best way. However leaders on the bottom who know that it isn’t in the very best curiosity of the folks dwelling in these areas to not know their rights, to not know what they’re entitled to, and to be afraid of looking for assist. It’s harmful. It’s unconscionable, frankly, that anybody who would contemplate themselves a pacesetter would mislead determined folks to the purpose that these determined folks wouldn’t obtain the help to which they’re entitled. And that’s why I name it harmful. And everyone knows it’s harmful and the gamesmanship has to cease. In some unspecified time in the future, the politics have to finish, particularly in a second of disaster. … We all know the desperation and the worry that the parents who’re trying to evacuate Florida are experiencing. The very last thing that they deserve is to have a so-called chief, make them extra afraid than they already are.”
President Joe Biden additionally talked about it throughout a digital briefing on Wednesday, saying, “The claims are getting much more weird. Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congressman with Georgia, is now saying the federal authorities is actually controlling the climate — we’re controlling the climate. It’s past ridiculous. It’s bought to cease.”
He mentioned Greene’s conspiracy idea was among the many “reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies” over the previous few weeks.
So far as Trump’s false claims about FEMA, Biden mentioned, “They’re saying folks impacted by these storms will obtain $750 in money and no extra. That’s merely not true. They’re saying the cash is required for this disaster is being diverted to migrants. What a ridiculous factor to say — it’s not true.”
Hurricane Milton is the second punch of a one-two combo, hitting Florida simply a few weeks after Hurricane Helene skirted up the west coast and brought on main flooding. Each storms quickly intensified in a short while. Coincidence? Most likely not. Check out this alarming video from The New York Instances as local weather reporter Raymond Zhong explains why a hurricane can go from a Class 1 storm to a Class 5 in lower than a half day, and why we’d see extra of this sooner or later.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in photos from their presidential debate on Sept. 9. (AP Photograph/Alex Brandon)
Fox Information is making a pitch for an additional presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The community despatched letters to each camps on Wednesday, proposing a debate within the battleground state of Pennsylvania on both Oct. 24 or Oct. 27. Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum could be the moderators.
Following the primary debate between Harris and Trump on Sept. 10, Harris’s camp, maybe buoyed by her robust efficiency, instantly known as for an additional debate. CNN supplied to host one other debate on Oct. 23, and Harris accepted. Trump, nonetheless, declined, saying some mail-in ballots had already been despatched out and it was too late for an additional debate.
With that excuse, wouldn’t Trump then flip down a debate on Fox Information? Nevertheless, since it might be on a community that usually gives favored protection to Trump and conservatives, maybe Trump would rethink.
Really, scratch that.
Trump posted on his Truth Social later Wednesday, “There might be no rematch.”
Have suggestions or a tip? E mail Poynter senior media author Tom Jones at [email protected].
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