Damage done by Irene coverage

Media hype was at a fever pitch last week. It would be easy to blame an uncooperative Hurricane Irene or the forecasters who misread the storm, but once again the fault lies within the newsrooms and corporate offices of America, particularly on the East Coast -- the center of the universe for big media.

While the storm certainly created some nasty weather and flooding, it didn't warrant the closing down of New York City more than 24 hours ahead of the first drop of rain. Imagine the damage that did to the local economy.

By the time the storm reached Washington, it was barely a Category 1. Damage where I live, about 20 miles west of D.C. and over 100 miles away from the Atlantic Ocean, was practically non-existent. Didn't even need to reset a single blinking clock in my house. I know others are suffering without power, but with the way the media was warning us, you would have thought the entire electrical grid was going to collapse.

While I can forgive forecasters for erring on the side of caution, I am not so understanding of media outlets that produced around-the-clock coverage of a storm that was clearly, even to a layman's eyes, no Katrina in strength or in the angle of approach. It lost steam as it traveled up the coast, partially over land that zapped its energy long before it hit NYC.

Politicians were falling all over each other to appear like they were the most-concerned public officials, offering tough-love warnings into any TV camera they could find. But in this case, was all that tough love genuine, or were they using the storm to gain much-needed points in this increasingly combative political environment?

I was particularly bothered by the panic in New York. When I was growing up in and around the Big Apple, New Yorkers prided themselves on being tough and not reacting to every storm like it was the end of the world. Yes, unlike people in Washington, we went to school or work when it snowed. We knew how to drive in the rain and didn't freak out whenever storm clouds gathered. We didn't cancel Woodstock because it rained for three days. We laughed at the rest of the country that seemed soft.

But this is a different time, even for New Yorkers. This is an era of media hype that is driven by news organizations' struggle to survive. This is an era where politicians are desperate for more favorable poll numbers and where lawyers are lined up to sue any state or municipality that appears negligent in preparing citizens for an attack by Mother Nature.

I have written about media hype several times in this blog. I believe the lack of seasoned journalists in newsrooms is contributing to the loss of perspective in how the news of the day is played. Ultimately, this will hurt readership or viewership, but the empty suits don't see it that way right now. They pretend to be long-range thinkers, but their vision is often clouded by falling profits. The corporate types that run big media are not making news decisions based on anything other than money. Many of them have never worked in a newsroom in their lives. They often come from the business side or advertising ranks of TV or print journalism. That was all fine and well when newspapers and evening news broadcasts had big profit margins and the suits didn't interfere in editorial operations.

Then came the recession.

When I was a young reporter and editor, I always had to make a strong case to get a story on the front page. Inevitably, there was a veteran news and/or managing editor who acted as gatekeepers. Truly big stories with proper attribution, facts and significance to the general public went out front, lesser stories went inside. It was the editor's call, not mine, not the circulation director's or even the publisher's. Period. Regardless of my whining, it was their choice where my story was played, and I respected that and learned a great deal about news judgment from their decision-making process. We didn't ignore less important stories. We just didn't waste a lot of time or prominent newsprint on them.

We didn't panic the public just to sell newspapers, and we certainly didn't buy into what politicians or so-called "experts" were telling us if it couldn't be backed up with relevant facts that checked out. But the gatekeepers are mostly gone now -- retired, laid off or dead -- and the rules of the game have changed. Now it's all about quantity versus quality. More news delivered faster trumps a objectivity and accuracy in the minds of the business leaders running news organizations.

The age of tabloid journalism and 24-hour news channels changed the profession even before the recession hit. Everything became "breaking news" even if it wasn't fresh or particularly significant. Now, with the web, it's all about speed and flash, which is why typos are so abundant online.

A Category 1 hurricane isn't anything to take lightly, particularly if you are in the path of it, but it isn't worthy of the coverage Irene received. Ditto on the East Coast earthquake last week. If the media continues to hype these kinds of stories, one has to wonder what news coverage will look like if we experience a real catastrophe.

As the media chases the low-hanging fruit and eye candy (I can't look at another TV reporter standing in the rain with a microphone or a toppled gas station canopy), more significant stories and investigative pieces are being overlooked. Budget cutbacks and layoffs have gutted newsrooms and practically done away with watchdog journalism. The checks and balances that existed in most newsrooms are pretty much gone. The game is now to bombard viewers and readers with trivial information, air the same video footage over and over, and dial up a fancy Flash graphic or two in order to drive web traffic.

This is what for-profit journalism has become during bad economic times. This is, in part, the reason we got the non-stop garbage coverage of a relatively weak hurricane. It wasn't just that the media hyped the coverage, it also gave us nonsensical tips about how to pass the time if the power goes out in our homes or what to do if a tree falls on our cars. It was just ridiculous fluff. But it probably kept people tuned in.

As reporters stand outside in the middle of a storm preaching to us how dangerous it would be not to listen to their warnings (does something seem odd about that that you?) they are not digging through documents in city hall or chasing down tips about corruption in government. While they show close-ups of some fallen bricks after a minor earthquake, they neglect to do the type of journalism that can improve society.

I came out of the post-Watergate era, when people went into journalism in order to make a positive difference, expose injustice and inform the public in a manner that wasn't influenced by dollars. Heck, just talking to someone from our own advertising department was taboo back in the day. The newsroom was separate from all revenue departments for a reason.

I wasn't interested in sensationalizing rain. I was more driven to expose the truth about corruption on the board of education. I wanted to shine a light on problems like homelessness and animal abuse. I sought out the underdogs in society and tried to bring their stories to the front page. I tried to entertain people with columns, features and sports stories. For me, it wasn't about what the executive offices wanted. It was about what I thought our readership wanted or needed to know. If I and everyone else in the newsroom did our jobs, circulation would increase. But that wasn't our primary goal or only focus.

So what I am seeing now in the mainstream media sickens me because I know that without the mass media fighting the good fight, it will be much easier for crooks to hide and for an already apathetic public to stick its head into the sand even deeper. The media resources spent on the quake and Irene last week did not serve journalism or the public very well. Perhaps TV ratings and news website traffic spiked, but what was really accomplished other than creating hysteria at the grocery stores and panic from ailing seniors in New York being transferred from hospitals in preparation for storm surge that never came. In fact, as the media continues to cry wolf in order to boost profits, I wonder if the public will become dangerously skeptical about future storms with much more merit than Irene.

My first real earthquake

I was sitting on the ground floor of my office building in Reston, Va., today when the earthquake hit. Even though I had never experienced a significant earthquake, I figured within seconds that what was shaking the building had to be a quake. Nothing else I could think of would move a large building in that manner. Fearing the above floors might pancake down, I left my office quickly and stood outside on the edge of the parking lot with coworkers. By then, it was over.

Despite it being a weird and somewhat frightful experience, it wasn't nearly as bad as the media and those being interviewed are portraying. And I was just an hour's drive from the epicenter, so the intensity was about as strong as anywhere. The D.C.-metro area tends to overreact to everything from minor snow storms to quarterback controversies.

Today's quake was more interesting than scary, not that I'd want to experience that on a regular basis. I found it strangely reassuring that the earth still reminds us every once in a while that we aren't the masters of the universe.

• Click here for a humorous look at the "devastation."

Earthquake a wake-up call

We had a 3.6 earthquake this morning. It was centered in Rockville, Md., about 20 miles from where I live in Northern Virginia. The quake occurred about three miles underground.

Of course, Californians are probably mocking us for even reporting on such a small quake. But keep a couple things in mind. First, this was the strongest quake within 30 miles of Washington D.C. in recorded-history. Because of the geographic qualities of the area, a 3.6 quake here is perceived to be much stronger than a similar quake in California.

With that said, I didn't feel the quake. It happened early, while I was in bed. I am a light sleeper, so it is surprising that I didn't hear or feel what other people reported.

They say there might be some after shocks for a week or so. In the grand scheme of things, it's not much to worry about. What is of far more concern is what is happening in the political halls of Washington, where Republicans and Democrats continue to play nasty games that are dividing our country. It is beginning to appear like Republicans in particular want the economy to languish just a bit longer so that they can win a few elections in November.

I hope it doesn't take a bigger earthquake to awaken people to what is happening in D.C. Gains in the economy were moving forward until Senate Republicans shut down the bridge to a fuller, self-sustaining economic recovery. I hope voters will remember that it was a Republican politician who apologized to British Petroleum and, with the exception of three senators, nearly shot down a financial reform bill that protects consumers. I pray that those impacted by the loss of unemployment benefits will remember that it was Republicans who voted down stimulus extensions that not only would have helped individuals, but would have aided businesses and the economy as a whole, with virtually no impact on the deficit despite GOP claims.

If Republicans are truly worried about the deficit, they should be leading the charge to not only get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, but to reduce our troops around the globe. Even some higher-ups in the armed forces say that the military is way over funded. Reducing the military budget by getting us out of the global-policing business would do more to lower the deficit than almost any other viable option. Why do we still have Marines in Okinawa? World War II was a long time ago. Isn't it time that we ask other countries to do more to protect themselves?

America is going to have more challenges to face. Natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes will occur. Getting the economy back on its feet through smart, targeted stimulus and by cutting wasteful spending on the No. 1 biggest budget item, the military, is essential if we are going to be able to cope with future disasters.

I like to think of today's small earthquake as a message to those in Washington to speed up the recovery and to stop playing politics. Find solutions to reducing the deficit that don't involve screwing people who worked all of their lives until the recession landed on our shores. Stop with the Tea Party rhetoric. It's childish and naive to think we can return to the ways of revolutionary days. Stop thinking that a free market will solve all of our ills and that we don't need any government regulations. Human beings need boundaries, that is why we needed financial regulatory reform. Sorry if that sounds socialist but if it weren't true we could do away with police, and in fact, the entire military. It is ridiculous to think that corporations will always do the right thing. We have courts and a justice system because it is within the nature of man to sometimes take advantage of situations or other people. The track record of big businesses and banks speaks for itself.

Total freedom has never been a part of this country. We've gotten in the most trouble when oversight has been weakened, when the powerful have been able to run over the folks with the least money and affluence. Until human beings reach a higher level of enlightenment, I suspect we will always need rules and regulations to prevent things like careless oil spills and discrimination in the workplace. No one should be free to abuse an innocent person, the environment or anything else.

Yes, today's earthquake was centered close to where many politicians live in Montgomery County. I hope Republicans in particular felt the jolt and don't blame it on President Obama, the jobless (who GOP'ers like to refer to as loafers and drug addicts) or the financial reform bill. The quake could be the ultimate wake-up call for those who refuse to look at both sides of the issues -- those narrow-minded people who believe whatever agenda-driven media is spewing today.

Read more about today's earthquake.

E-media slow to react to California quake

I got an early report of the earthquake near the Mexico-California border today via an e-mail from a friend who lives in San Diego. When I turned on the television to check the cable news stations, there was virtually no information about the quake except on CNN where the downsized B-team was evidently working the Easter holiday shift. Not exactly stuff that would make Walter Cronkite proud.

The latest trend in the media is to let average citizens do the journalistic legwork while allowing most journalists to have the weekend off. That strategy, however, is no substitute for getting images from professional photographers and eye-witness accounts from trained observers/journalists. I saw none of that in the first few hours after today's quake. What I did see was amateur video taken by housewives and children that failed to accurately depict the event and a CNN anchorman who didn't seem to have a grasp of basic geography. It was frustrating to watch a newscast that lacked the most basic information.

As the aftershocks were mounting, FOX News continued to ignore the story entirely, leaving me to think that newscast was prerecorded. When the smiling anchor on FOX finally acknowledged the quake, she didn't seem to comprehend the potential newsworthiness of it and quickly returned to other news that was nothing more than scripted fluff and rehashed stories from the previous week. She didn't appear nimble enough to switch gears. But she had a great smile. And through the aftershocks, the mainstream Web sites weren't on top of the story anymore than TV talking heads.

You would think that after some catastrophic earthquakes lately, a quake near a major U.S. city would draw a greater sense of urgency from the electronic media. This should be when e-media is at its best. I've heard a lot about newsrooms allegedly being 24/7 operations in this new technology age -- about media companies being more competitive than ever. Yet, I saw little evidence of that today. The news out of Southern California trickled to the East Coast today like back in the days of old teletype wire machines. Where was the immediacy and journalistic credibility in the early hours? Tomorrow's traditional newspapers will probably have it covered, particularly in places like San Diego and Los Angeles, but the electronic media was slow to react today, leading me to wonder about the staffing and leadership at these news outlets.

This wasn't a Haiti-type earthquake. Maybe there was no need to call in Brian Williams to man the desk at NBC or get the webmaster out of bed to redesign the home page. But it was another indication that while the storytelling tools of journalism improve, the actual timeliness, professionalism and accuracy of electronic media leaves much to be desired.

A quake that moved the entire planet

We tend to go about our days without thinking much about the planet we inhabit. Even when natural disasters such as earthquakes occur, we think of those as regional events.

The recent 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile sent tsunami warnings to countries thousands of miles away. Still, it didn't seem as if the earthquake had a global reach or should concern us for any reasons beyond the obvious humanitarian ones.

Then came this news on the NASA web site.

Experts say the Chilean earthquake caused a shortening of days by knocking the planet off of its axis. How scientists figure this stuff out is astonishing. What's even more amazing is how an apparent localized natural event can literally impact the entire globe. Earth and life itself appear far more fragile than we often realize. In a year of record-breaking odd weather, earthquakes and other occurrences, it makes one wonder whether these events are somehow connected or if the planet is in some kind of transitional period.