Janet Coats Comments on Lack of Local Hurricane Coverage and Rescue Efforts Hindered by Misinformation
Janet Coats, managing director of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology, and Joy Mayer, executive director and founder of Trusted News, are the authors of the opinion piece “Where’s the Coverage of Communities That Didn’t ‘Dodge a Bullet’ with Hurricane Milton?” published on poynter.org on Oct. 11.
Coats and Mayer focus on the lack of storm information for the less well-known communities and cities that are not part of a major metro area. Many do not have sources of truly local broadcast news.
“It was excruciating to watch people pleading for information during what will be a memorably terrifying night as they rode out the storm — most of them in areas that were not under evacuation orders. The primary focus, both for Florida stations and nationally, was Tampa/St. Petersburg,” they write. “In journalism, we’ve talked a lot about news deserts. Those conversations have focused on the decline and even death of local newspapers. But we also have local television news deserts. And that is a very real, life-threatening problem when a big storm comes to Florida.”
“That means that the overwhelming majority of television viewers are tuned into news that is coming from places 50 miles away. And 50 miles might as well be a million when it comes to the loss of property and life when a storm makes landfall. When the world — and hurricane evacuees — woke up Thursday morning hungry for visuals of how each community fared, there was little information from the worst-hit areas,” they write.
Coats was also featured in “Do You Have an Information Plan? UF Professor Warns of the Dangers of Misinformation During Hurricanes” posted on News4Jax.com on Oct. 8.
The story focuses on how online misinformation and conspiracy theories are hurting hurricane relief efforts. These false claims have distracted federal and state officials from rescue work.
Coats said while relief organizations should be focusing their time and efforts on relief in the field, instead they’re having to dedicate resources to dispel rumors online.
“We saw so much and continue to see so much misinformation coming out of North Carolina after Hurricane Helene,” Coats said. “Things like FEMA is stealing supplies, confiscating supplies from relief centers, that if you take money from FEMA, they have the potential to take your land or your home. So, [these are] some really scary things that cause people to question whether they should even ask for help, which is truly tragic.”
“Local meteorologists are doing amazing work, and they really become this trusted lifeline at moments like this,” Coats said. “You know there are a lot of unscrupulous people out there who take these great moments of tragedy and fear and use them to make a buck. Our own instincts can be our best protection. Disinformation is intended, it’s created to play on our emotions. It’s intended to create a strong emotional response. Anger or fear are two of the big ones. So, if you’re looking at, you know, something on social media and it’s making you feel angry or sad, that is a sign that maybe you need to stop and take a minute to see, ‘can I verify the source of where this is coming from?’”
Posted: October 14, 2024
Category: College News, Trust News
Tagged as: Climate change, Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology, Hurricane Coverage, Janet Coats, Misinformation
