A few months ago, there were predictions that the world would end (thankfully it did not). Then this past week, came the earthquake and now Hurricane Irene. To be sure these are scary and dangerous events but they are made scarier by the hype of the media. Watching the coverage of Hurricane Irene , one can’t help but feel like the world as we know it is going to end. It will be bad, we will probably lose power for several days and we will likely have some serious damage to buildings and property. But the coverage seems aimed at our deepest fears, and maybe even fear we didn’t know we had. In terms of leadership communications, can’t we do better than this?
Just a few hours ago, I watched a few poor reporters standing on the beaches in North Carolina and Ocean City, MD talking about how they were getting pelted by sand and wind and how dangerous the situation is. One local reporter even talked about how the staff of the hotel they are staying in Ocean City, MD had left because of mandatory evacuations. If it’s that dangerous, why are the reporters still there? I guess this is war coverage–man’s war with nature.
As someone in the path of the storm, I’m more interested in what they can tell me about the weather forecast. I don’t need 24-7 coverage of reporters being blown around and shots of the rough surf, or reporters with instruments to measure the wind speed and then tell me that the wind speed is under 1 mile per hour (yes Pat Collins in Annapolis a few hours ago.)
It remains to be seen how bad Irene will be. I write this while I have still have power and before the really bad part of the storm hits. But I’m not convinced that the hype and fear that the coverage inspires is all that useful. We are already on edge with a bad economy, revolution in Libya, the riots in London a few weeks ago and political strife in Washington. There are storms of all kind everywhere.
Yes it’s important to convey the seriousness of Hurricane Irene, the need to evacuate low-lying areas and to understand how to prepare. But it seems as though the media has taken this one a little too far. It’s not news. It’s hysteria.
