From the front page of the New York Times print edition, Sunday, August 28 :
The aftermath, via an AP headline that sounds like the title of an unwritten RadioHead song. Little Damage Seen In Many Places :
From AP :
From North Carolina to Pennsylvania, Hurricane Irene appeared to have fallen short of the doomsday predictions. But with rivers still rising, and roads impassable because of high water and fallen trees, it could be days before the full extent of the damage is known.People used to be happy when terrifying doomsday predictions turned out to be wrong. Now they feel, somehow, as though they've been robbed.
UPDATE : This video completely sums up the way millions of Americans felt about the cable news, in particular, coverage of Hurricane Irene. The tension of a brave reporter's dramatic hurricane report is destroyed by young people, having fun :
And this video, because the Fox reporter is covered in sea foam, containing raw sewage, but he doesn't know it ."It smells like ocean...it's got a sandy consistency....it doesn't taste great" :
"I will retreat if it gets anymore dangerous."
And yet he remains, to be almost washed away by frothy, foamy waves of gritty human waste. A graphic metaphor for the American cable news media in 2011.
The story must go on, always breaking new news, even if when stripped bare of hype, it's not really much news at all, until reporters are literally sinking in shit.
UPDATE : The Sydney Morning Herald used the beautiful image below of a still, empty Times Square for its coverage :
That Story Is Here
"How beautiful is New York without the traffic?" was a common tweet from New Yorkers during 24 hours of Hurricane Irene scaring away cars, trucks and buses.
The trailers of Hollywood movies have shown us what New York City looks like under attack from Mother Nature. But the reality wasn't rivers of water rushing down Fifth Avenue, it was a near utterly still Times Square, still alive with lights and video screens, but staggeringly, breath-takingly, empty.
