An issue in science and the US media: hurricane Irma reportage

I

iceaura

Valued Senior Member
Weather event management reporting may be where politics, science, and the media, intersect most visibly and transparently - from Limbaugh last week declaring Irma to be an example of liberal alarmism set up to push big government via the climate change hoax ( he is evacuating, though, as the reality looms), to the absence in major media of direct comparison between Texas governance and the 2005 Texan-maligned Louisiana governance in hurricane preparation (such as evacuation management), we have seen a lot of manifestations of the underlying tensions in US when faced with inconvenient realities like Irma.

The one bothering me the most at the moment is the diminutive presence or even sometimes total absence of Cuba in the reporting on Irma, at least in the reports I've seen. Is there a US media source that has covered Irma's impact on Cuba in anything like proportional terms, relative to its impact on other non-US islands?

I just watched a hurricane damage report and warning in which the delivery guy actually put his hand on the spinning icon riding Cuba's north coast, a strong cat 4 hurricane complete with storm surge and heavy waves right on shore and gale force winds blanketing the width of that island - and talked about the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Florida Keys.
 
iceaura said:
You mean Katia?
Jose is looking ominous, and not turning N quite on schedule.
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yeh, you're right
curious
the local news was calling katia tropical storm jose 2 days ago
maybe a problem with whomever did the graphic?
 
iceaura said:
Weather event management reporting may be where politics, science, and the media, intersect most visibly and transparently - from Limbaugh last week declaring Irma to be an example of liberal alarmism set up to push big government via the climate change hoax ( he is evacuating, though, as the reality looms), to the absence in major media of direct comparison between Texas governance and the 2005 Texan-maligned Louisiana governance in hurricane preparation (such as evacuation management), we have seen a lot of manifestations of the underlying tensions in US when faced with inconvenient realities like Irma.

The one bothering me the most at the moment is the diminutive presence or even sometimes total absence of Cuba in the reporting on Irma, at least in the reports I've seen. Is there a US media source that has covered Irma's impact on Cuba in anything like proportional terms, relative to its impact on other non-US islands?

I just watched a hurricane damage report and warning in which the delivery guy actually put his hand on the spinning icon riding Cuba's north coast, a strong cat 4 hurricane complete with storm surge and heavy waves right on shore and gale force winds blanketing the width of that island - and talked about the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Florida Keys.
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It is curious, & perhaps (in light of the rescinding of the rapprochement between the US & Cuba by the current Administration) more political than anything else, that Cuba is not mentioned. The Daughter & I just had a conversation about potential effects on Cuba vis-a-vis some of the other Caribbean Islands [my take, the mountainous terrain helps, except for on the Westward (leeward) end where Gitmo is located]. I would find it hard to imagine, perhaps naively, that Weather Channel would be bowing to Political pressures, but you may be correct.
 
RADII said:
I would find it hard to imagine, perhaps naively, that Weather Channel would be bowing to Political pressures,
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That's not my first guess. My first guess is an inculcated, prevalent, all but universal bias built into the reporters and their audience - Cuba exists only in certain roles. They aren't following orders, they are following their own inherent perceptions and priorities.

The coverage of all previous hurricanes in the Caribbean during my attentive adult life has been similarly gapped, missing. It's not Trump.
Beer w/Straw said:
There's this: http://www.cnn.com/videos/weather/2017/09/09/cuba-damage-hurricane-irma-sot.cnn

What do you deem credible news sources?
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I'm not looking for credibility, I'm looking for proportionality and "straight" coverage of natural disaster. (That's where the credibility will come from).

I missed that coverage, on CNN - that's a step in the direction,
- - but it's 50 seconds of a talking head who could be frankly anywhere it's wet and windy.

It's not descriptions of relief efforts or preparation circumstances, it's not interviews with first responders or fleeing refugees or government officials warning and informing, it's not comparison with Katrina or any of the several other hurricanes Cuba has dealt with over the years, it's not maps of storm surge and estimates of damage and recovery cost, it's not even footage of those waves rolling down the streets and how people can help. It's nothin'. It's many days late and many dollars short.

And it's too late, now. We already have the long record of Cuban partial invisibility in these matters, and the first two weeks of this latest hurricane coverage. The issue is apparent, obvious, and cannot be hidden by a surge of attention, if any, at this late date.
 
iceaura said:
...

I'm not looking for credibility, I'm looking for proportionality and "straight" coverage of natural disaster. (That's where the credibility will come from).

I missed that coverage, on CNN - that's a step in the direction,
- - but it's 50 seconds of a talking head who could be frankly anywhere it's wet and windy.

It's not descriptions of relief efforts or preparation circumstances, it's not interviews with first responders or fleeing refugees or government officials warning and informing, it's not comparison with Katrina or any of the several other hurricanes Cuba has dealt with over the years, it's not maps of storm surge and estimates of damage and recovery cost, it's not even footage of those waves rolling down the streets and how people can help. It's nothin'. It's many days late and many dollars short.

And it's too late, now. We already have the long record of Cuban partial invisibility in these matters, and the first two weeks of this latest hurricane coverage. The issue is apparent, obvious, and cannot be hidden by a surge of attention, if any, at this late date.
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I'm Canadian so my opinion doesn't matter, but are you indicating CNN is the most credible news source in America?
 
Totally aside, PBS probably has more respect than CNN but not the global reach. :leaf:

And yes I am stoned.
 
An aid package that included Cuba could take advantage of Cuba's location relative to other hurricane blasted places.

They keep talking about how far Puerto Rico is from the US mainland - it's a lot closer to Cuba. International cooperation time? Maybe Canada can make a deal for us.

But the bothersome gap in the US media science coverage, the weird hole in the reported physical info - economic analysis, long term ecological effects, disease and agricultural implications, future demographic trends, governmental disaster handling, etc, - remains, right in front of the American citizenry.
 
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