Nick Davies's book Flat Earth News begins by exposing the falsity of the great media scare story about the Y2K phenomenon. It strikes me that this weekend's hurricane Gustav story may well turn out to be a similar fake scare.
The latest Washington Post story begins with the obligatory sentence about New Orleans being "braced" for the storm that "officials fear could devastate coastal Louisiana and parts of New Orleans." But the second paragraph tells the real story:
Gustav picked up speed but lost some of its strength in the Gulf of Mexico. Forecasters said the changes could weaken the storm's punch, and they expressed optimism that the predictions of flooding in the city might not come to pass.
And a weather expert interviewed on this morning's Radio 4 Today programme also poured cold water on the threat.
Was I alone in wondering why Gustav's possible threat to the US has dominated news bulletins for two days with only passing references to the fact - the fact - that it caused death and destruction to certain islands in the Caribbean?
Why have TV reporters not rushed to those islands? Why have we not seen and heard the bereaved tell of their horror stories? Why was Gustav's threat to the US more of a story than its reality in Cuba?
