Ginger Zee’s ‘Boots On The Ground’ Coverage From Hurricane Ian’s Eyewall Was No Vacation
Ginger Zee, chief meteorologist for ABC News, provided her millions of social media followers with behind-the-scenes updates before and during Hurricane Ian as well as live reports on ABC World News Tonight and Good Morning America.
Forida cable operators in the wake of Hurricane Ian continue to work to restore service (phone, TV and/or internet access), but most of a half-million subs (474,706) in the state remain without it as of Oct. 3, which is actually up slightly from the 441,799 without service in Florida Oct. 1. By contrast, only one TV station remained out of service as of Monday, compared to four TV stations out of service Oct. 1.
What Hurricane Ian Shows Us About News, Real And Manufactured
Joe Ferullo: “It’s been a horrifying natural disaster — a storm that only comes along once every 500 years — but Hurricane Ian has also triggered something else: a reminder of what our politics and media used to be before the era of endless polarization. Appreciate this while you can. Chances are it won’t last.”
Hurricane Ian has taken a heavy toll on Florida communications, according to the first reporting out of the Federal Communications Commission’s voluntary Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) following Ian’s major landfall. Cable and wireline service had been knocked out to over a half-million subscribers (526,966) in the path of the storm, which includes phone, TV and internet service. That was up from 26,716 subs out of service the day before.
Exclusives
Citing Ian and some technical issues, the commission gives regulatees two extra days to file.
Stations situated on the southwestern coast of Florida hustled Wednesday to keep viewers informed of Hurricane Ian’s frightful trip through the area. That includes stations in Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota), which is DMA 13, and Fort Myers-Naples, which is DMA 54. Stations used live streaming to keep users up to date.
With a hurricane as slow-moving and severe as this one, TV news outlets have predictably dispatched correspondents (and more than one evening news anchor) to the scene. Here’s a breakdown of who is where. Of course, locations are subject to change.
Beginning at 11 a.m. CT, Senior National Correspondent Brian Entin and Southeast Reporters Xavier Walton, and Brooke Shafer will be covering from Florida. Additionally, meteorologist Gerard Jebaily will be reporting throughout the day from NewsNation’s headquarters in Chicago.
With the National Hurricane Center predicting a “near worst-case scenario” when Hurricane Ian is forecast to slam ashore in Tampa Bay Thursday, Tom Brady and the Buccaneers have decided to decamp to Miami to for their scheduled Sunday Night Football home game this weekend against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. The marquee matchup is set to be held at Tampa’s Raymonds James Stadium and broadcast on NBC at 8:20 p.m. ET.
