It’s been a very bad year for tornadoes, and nothing this year can
compare to the devastation in Joplin, Missouri, an event that was
covered extensively by the national press as it was happening. But on
June 1, 2011, almost the entire east coast of the U.S. was under a
tornado watch, including NYC and Boston. Tornadoes are not like
earthquakes, in that they can be seen forming in advance on Doppler
radar. While a tornado was forming over Massachusetts, CNN was busy
airing an “exclusive interview” with Anthony Weiner, complete with an
8×10 photo of him in his underwear. Wolf Blitzer was in New York with
Representative Weiner, while in the Atlanta studios of CNN their very
competent meteorologist, Chad Meyers, was being bumped. It’s a sign of
the mission at CNN that they didn’t break into the interview to warn
the people of Springfield, Massachusetts when they could have. The
deaths of four people in Massachusetts put into perspective the kind
of scandal that the national news focuses on at the expense of
important stories every day. If only they had treated the Iraq war
with such vigor, sarcasm, and righteous doubt.