Why the Media Ignored the Nashville Flood

As you may have heard, torrential downpours in the southeast flooded the Tennessee capital of Nashville over the weekend, lifting the Cumberland River 13 feet above flood stage, causing an estimated $1 billion in damage, and killing more than 30 people. It could wind up being one of the most expensive natural disasters in U.S. history.

Or, on second thought, maybe you didn't hear. With two other "disasters" dominating the headlines—the Times Square bombing attempt and the Gulf oil spill—the national media seems to largely to have ignored the plight of Music City since the flood waters began inundating its streets on Sunday. A cursory Google News search shows 8,390 hits for "Times Square bomb" and 13,800 for "BP oil spill." "Nashville flood," on the other hand, returns only 2,430 results—many of them local. As Betsy Phillips of the Nashville Scene writes, "it was mind-boggling to flip by CNN, MSNBC, and FOX on Sunday afternoon and see not one station even occasionally bringing their viewers footage of the flood, news of our people dying."

So why the cold shoulder? I see two main reasons. First, the modern media may be more multifarious than ever, but they're also remarkably monomaniacal. In a climate where chatter is constant and ubiquitous, newsworthiness now seems to be determined less by what's most important than by what all those other media outlets are talking about the most. Sheer volume of coverage has become its own qualification for continued coverage. . .

Of course, the media is also notorious for its ADD; no story goes on forever. Which brings us to the second reason the Nashville floods never gained much of a foothold in the national conversation: the "narrative" simply wasn't as strong. Because it continually needs to fill the airwaves and the Internet with new content, 1,440 minutes a day, the media can only trade on a story's novelty for a few hours, tops. It is new angles, new characters, and new chapters that keep a story alive for longer. The problem for Nashville was that both the gulf oil spill and the Times Square terror attempt are like the Russian novels of this 24/7 media culture, with all the plot twists and larger themes (energy, environment, terrorism, etc.) required to fuel the blogs and cable shows for weeks on end. What's more, both stories have political hooks—which provide our increasingly politicized press (MSNBC, FOX News, blogs) with grist for the kind of arguments (Did Obama respond too slowly? Should we Mirandize terrorists?) that further extend a story's lifespan. The Nashville narrative wasn't compelling enough to break the cycle, so the MSM just continued to blather on about BP and Shahzad.

If I sound like I'm condoning the media's inattention here, I'm not. My explanation is meant as a criticism. Given audience demands—especially at a time when traditional media companies aren't doing so well—it's impossible to avoid the stories with the most buzz and the strongest narratives. Nor should we. But that doesn't mean urgency shouldn't factor into the equation as well. In this case, the most urgent aspects of the oil spill and the Times Square attack had already been covered to death; the culprit was already caught, the slow clean-up was already underway. And yet we still kept rehashing each of those stories—and fighting about politics—while thousands of homes and business were destroyed and dozens of people died. That matters. Media silence means public ignorance, and public ignorance means fewer charitable donations, slower aid, and less political pressure. If that's not reason enough to cover the flood, I don't know what is.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2010/05/06/why-the-media-ignored-the-nashville-flood.aspx


A failed car bomb attempt which hurt no one should have been a story for a day or two. A flood which comes around once every five hundred years and which has taken over two dozen lives is much more news worthy in my opinion. If the sorry excuse for news can only handle two stories, then they chose wrong.

You are right. We heard little. How are the relief efforts going and what can people do to help?

and a little description of what happened and is happening:

While lost lives and damage to homes and property were of primary concern, the city also suffered major blows to its economy, as many of its largest businesses and tourist attractions quickly found themselves underwater. "The magnitude of the damages to those businesses, I don't know," Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said yesterday in a press conference at Belmont University. "I think it's safe to say the damage that we're looking at will easily exceed $1 billion."

The Grand Ole Opry, hallowed ground for country musicians new and old, took in several feet of water, though it is still unclear what has been lost. Though it's home to countless memorabilia items, those who love the Opry are trying to remain optimistic."We look forward to coming together both as the Opry family and as a great American city just as we have every week for nearly 85 years," Grand Ole Opry President Pete Fisher said in a statement.

dowtown_panorama.jpgThe neighboring Opryland Hotel also suffered severe flooding, displacing 1,500 hotel guests. Another major blow to the music industry was the flooding of Soundcheck Nashville, a downtown storage facility near the Cumberland River that housed the gear of over 1,000 artists and businesses. Artists who lost most, if not all, of their gear at Soundcheck include Keith Urban, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley and LeAnn Rimes. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Schermerhorn Symphony Center also flooded, along with several music venues downtown.

The city of Nashville has lived up to its reputation of being capital of the Volunteer State, however, with citizens coming out of the woodwork to fill sandbags, raise funds and supplies and even make daring water rescues. Nashville service organization Hands On Nashville has been integral in organizing volunteer efforts, reporting via Twitter that "the volunteer spirit in this city is amazing." The site has had to restructure its server several times this week due to "staggering" volunteer registrations. Several music venues have already held flood relief benefit shows, with Mercy Lounge raising $11,000 and the Tin Roof Franklin raising $10,000. A telethon benefiting flood victims will air tonight on Nashville's NBC affiliate WSMV and will feature Vince Gill, Keith Urban, Alison Krauss and many others. The telethon will stream live online at WSMV.com.

In addition to taking to the streets, frustrated Nashvillians took to the Internet to address the lack of coverage the national news media was giving their flood-ravaged city. Twitter was inundated with tweets about the flood, making "Nashville" and "#nashvilleflood" trending topics earlier in the week. Many contained the first photos and accounts of the devastation, while others simply asked the rest of the world for help. Nashville blog Nashvillest saw the gap left by national media and began offering around the clock coverage and information, while hockey blogger Patten Fuqua wrote the moving call to arms piece "We Are Nashville," which has already inspired a viral campaign of its own.

In response to the online pleas of Nashville citizens, CNN's Anderson Cooper tweeted, "From ac: been getting a lot of emails saying "where is the media" in TN covering the flooding. They are right. We haven't done enough on it." Cooper has since been covering the story, interviewing Kenny Chesney about his flooded home and planning to report live from Nashville tonight.

The positive impact made by Nashville citizens is proof that grassroots efforts do work, but it's going to take national action to get the city down the long road of recovery. Though the Cumberland River is finally receding and FEMA aid is in the works, Nashville needs your help now. Nashville has given the world some of its greatest songs, playing an integral role in the fabric of our musical culture. Please help Nashville keep the music playing.

How you can help:

* Text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to disaster relief.
* Donate to Hands On Nashville.
* Volunteer through Hands On Nashville. New opportunities are posted on their website daily.
* Donate to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
* Donate to the Nashville Humane Association — pets have been displaced, too!
* Spread the word — post stories, pictures and videos to Twitter and Facebook encouraging others to donate.
* Visit Nashvillest for frequently updated information regarding current needs (as well as general information).



The article has working links to the above list:
http://www.tonic.com/article/nashvilles-100-year-flood-how-you-can-help/

everything else that was going on..but, our US corporatemedia is not into news..they're into manufacturing and manipulating ratings.

I disagree about the Times Square bombing needing only two days, though..it had legs bc of the police work involved that caught the guy and the question of.. does he have ties in Pakistan?

I hope people complained to the networks about not covering the devasting flood in Nashville, Tennessee. I haven't watched any corporate "news" since 2002.

global warming climate change.

I believe much of the corporate media has an inherent conflict of interest in keeping that issue fuzzed up in the gray area in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence supporting this looming catastrophe.

Indeed their reporting and constant punditry prognostication presents global warming climate change as being in serious debate among the world's leading scientists or the evidence as being tainted whenever a pea is found under the mattress.

If they had seriously covered this historic flood in any prolonged depth, the issue of global warming climate change as a possible aggravating dynamic may have presented it self as being all too real and having this occur in the Country Music Capital of the World could have seismic corporate, political and environmental consequences.

The corporate media is first, last and foremost champions of American Corporations, the other two stories as presented benefit American Corporations at least in the short run; and that's about the depth of corporate media vision.

Thanks for the thread, Robbien.

when watching the Weather Channel (the only channel up here to cover the Tennessee flooding). Something is seriously wrong when a flood like that hits an area such as yours.

Hopefully you and yours are safe. And you are welcome Uncle Joe.

Peace to you Robbien.:hi:

and caused a billion in damage to Wall Street, the corporate media would have given it a little more coverage.

Who a disaster happens to is more important than the disaster itself, sometimes...