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Storm rewrites media role

As Wilma hovers in the distance, news outlets are planning more thorough and more thoughtful coverage, setting up camp in Florida before the storm strikes.

By ERIC DEGGANS
Published October 22, 2005

As the advance of Hurricane Wilma turns the nation's attention to Florida, TV news outlets scrambling to gather resources for the coming onslaught of coverage admit one thing stands out: the job of chasing storms post-Katrina seems much different.

These days, amid fresh memories of Katrina's horrible, weeks-long aftermath, broadcasters are sending a few more people, planning a little more in-depth coverage and preparing to stay a bit longer than they might have in years past.

"I remember the good old days when you got into the hurricane region, covered everything you can for a few days and its over," said Jack Womack, senior vice president of news operations for CNN. "Now there's the look at how people evacuated, how (emergency workers) responded, how local officials were. It's not just the hurricane... It's (asking) "How will all these people be taken care of?' "

CNN plans to send 40 to 50 people for its coverage - with some decked out in the cable channel's trademark red rain slickers - including anchors Miles O'Brien and Anderson Cooper and Hurricane One, a specially-outfitted SUV equipped to send live pictures during storm coverage.

Already, the channel has paid lots of attention to the approaching storm, with regular updates on its strength and position, stories on attempts to prepare in Florida and star reporter Cooper anchoring from Naples Friday night.

At ABC, producers haven't decided whether to send their best known names to Florida, mostly because Wilma's slow advance and unpredictable path have left executives unsure how massive the storm impact will be.

But other staffers will come loaded down with satellite phones, security plans, food supplies and alternatives for housing people if hotels aren't available, said Paul Slavin, senior vice president of newsgathering for the network.

"We assumed a little bit in years past that local state and federal officials knew what they were doing... Now we don't make that assumption," said Slavin. "We assume we're going into a war zone and come equipped with stuff we would never have taken into a hurricane zone before."

Indeed, the immediate response of officials and the fate of those without the means to evacuate have become major themes in hurricane coverage, said Ellen Weiss, senior national editor at National Public Radio.

"These are not things we've ignored in the past, but the scrutiny will be a little closer," said Weiss, who will send about four staffers to Florida. "For example, I can't imagine that in the stories we did on the (four) hurricanes which hit Florida last year we did one story about evacuating hospitals... (But) I was talking to people to find out the plans for evacuating nursing homes and hospitals (for Wilma)."

Locally, reporters for Fox affiliate WTVT-Ch. 13 are dividing their time between providing reports to the network's national news feeds and their own station, following a playbook solidified in covering the many storms which hit the state last year.

"I think our questioning is a little more critical...(But) we went through this so many times last year, I think (public officials) have a lot more experience in this state," said Phil Metlin, vice president of news at WTVT. "And there are people here who have been covering hurricanes since the 1960s...so we're ready."

Still, some experts wonder if all the talk about energized coverage and long-lasting change from Katrina has been a little overblown.

"If I had seen a different kind of coverage in the Guatemalan floods, I might have been convinced Katrina changed something," said Al Tompkins, a former TV news director and broadcast journalism instructor at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which owns the St. Petersburg Times.

"New Orleans got lots of coverage for a lot of reasons ... it's one of America's most important port cities, it's a city with a rich tradition," he said. "There are hurricanes which hit this country all the time, but not every one of them is a national calamity for days."

[Last modified October 22, 2005, 01:13:18]