We have relatives in western North Carolina, where it's been twelve days since Hurricane Helene brought destructive flooding. Unable to reach them by phone, we finally got an email reply eight days later. They had no electricity for five days and "internet is sketchy." A friend brought them a camp stove and some water.
My X (Twitter) account is full of residents in the region (who have more internet access) reporting on their roads and bridges destroyed, neighbors' homes damaged, local details. They show supplies that private individuals and churches brought in. They show private helicopter pilots looking for survivors. They often claim that they have not seen help from FEMA, and even that FEMA hindered rescuers and seized supplies.
CBS and other legacy media seem like the voice of the government. Their "fact-checker" reports simply that all those claims are false and FEMA is good: categorically the opposite of reports on the ground, those videos submitted by locals and private rescuers.
How hard is it to learn what's going on in the US now? People on site report what they see, and media call it "damaging disinformation."
(cont'd tomorrow)
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