Becoming the Story

Covering the news, the last thing I expected was to be the news.

The blizzard of 2023 (assuming there will not be another) became national news and I was right in the center of it. 6 and a half feet of snow… street not plowed, trapped at our home for 10 days. Things got real when our grocery store’s roof collapsed and our source for food was destroyed. I documented the best I could on YouTube, and then I started to be asked for interviews.

I wasn’t sure how I felt but I knew I was in a unique position to help get the word out about a community in need. I wasn’t sure if it was crossing a line, but I felt that it was important enough to flip my role and be on the other side of the camera. In a lot of ways I felt disappointed by the coverage I had seen. I did not feel that enough hard questions were being asked and that media outlets were just taking the County’s word that everything was under control. Well it wasn’t and I knew that being on the inside of this disaster.

It was hard to admit that I was disappointed in my industry, and that I felt the reporting was lacking. This experience will make me take a harder look at the reporting we do and making sure that we dig deep enough, and ask the tough questions.

Eventually the reporting turned and I think that once that happened it had an impact on the response. Suddenly the main roads that were supposed to be closed for weeks were opened up to residents. This after days of reports on people sleeping in their cars waiting to get back to their homes.

The biggest lesson that I learned is to be prepared with weeks of supplies. And that neighbors helping neighbors is the only way to get through a disaster like this. We have to look out for each other… this is the way.