COOL PIC: IN THE EYE OF DORIAN:
Donald Trump wrongly says Hurricane Dorian will hit Alabama
The Guardian
Exclusive: O'Donnell's Bahamas experience
“CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell aboard a U.S. Coast Guard plane headed to the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian. (Photo courtesy of CBS News.)
Just as Hurricane Dorian was leaving the Bahamas, “CBS Evening
News” anchor Norah O’Donnell was heading there. While all the major network
evening news broadcasts had reporters in the Bahamas, O’Donnell was the only
anchor to go there.
“It was the most powerful hurricane on record ever to hit the
island,” O’Donnell told me in an email Wednesday night after spending the day
on the ground in the Bahamas. “We knew this would be an impending humanitarian
crisis. Our job is to provide original reporting from the field.”
O’Donnell flew with the U.S. Coast Guard over the islands hit
hardest by the Category 5 hurricane before landing and seeing its effects
first-hand. I asked her to describe what she saw.
“Total devastation in many parts of Abaco and Grand Bahama,”
O’Donnell said. “One rescued man told us that he’s lived in Abaco for more than
50 years. This is the first hurricane to destroy his home. It’s terribly
heartbreaking. We’ve heard three-fourths of the homes are destroyed in some
areas.”
After spending the day in the Bahamas, O’Donnell returned to
anchor the evening news from Opa Locka, Florida — the staging point for a
massive search and rescue operation. But her hurricane coverage is not over.
“Our CBS meteorologists tell us Hurricane Dorian is headed
straight for the Carolinas,” O’Donnell told me. “And so we are headed there,
too.”
How the media can (really) help with Dorian
George Bolter, left, and his parents walk through the remains of his home destroyed by Hurricane Dorian in Freeport, Bahamas. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
How exactly should the media responsibly cover
Hurricane Dorian? I posed that question to Al Tompkins, Poynter’s senior
faculty for broadcasting. For starters, he said, let’s not forget that the
storm is not over. It left the Bahamas, but now is impacting the United States.
Once the storm goes away, the media cannot.
“Don’t get tired of this story,” Tompkins warned. “Don’t take
your eyes off of it. Help follows coverage and many people will need help.”
Right now, the story is fresh. We see the overhead shots that
show us the scale of the devastation. We see the shots from the ground that
make the stories personal. This is the easy part for reporters.
The challenge will be in the coming weeks and months when other
stories push Hurricane Dorian off the newscasts and out of the newspapers. But
those impacted by the hurricane will still be suffering.
That’s where the media comes in with coverage that should answer
this question for its audience: How can I help?
“This is going to be a long recovery for many people, and that recovery
will be helped by coverage,” Tompkins said.