A few weeks ago, Anderson Cooper’s CNN show had a ridiculous section (nearly 10 minutes long) where they asked 10- and 11-year-olds what they thought about the election.
As of that moment, I knew that Cooper was a real reporter who had worked his way up. His big break came when he wrote serious, sad stories about Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
We’ve seen how Cooper and CNN cover big storms since Hurricane Katrina, which was almost twenty years ago.
Cooper went outside in the middle of the storm because apparently we don’t know that hurricanes are dangerous and the moment needed to be sped up. In a video that quickly went viral and came to represent everything bad about how modern news outlets cover disasters, Cooper decides to go back inside after being hit in the face by a piece of debris.
Yes, that was a smart move. We’re glad Mr. Cooper is safe, but we want to know why he or his bosses thought this was essential.
Cooper was reporting from the banks of the Manatee River in Bradenton, Florida, as Milton hit the Gulf Coast of the state. The rough video footage proved once and for all that storms really do bring wind and/or water.
Now, it’s important to note that if you’re an adult and really need to see what a storm looks like, there are a lot of unsupervised live cams that will do just that. As of 2 a.m. Thursday Eastern Daylight Time, WTVT-TV in Tampa is the only station that has at least seven of them live.
But no, CNN had to send a ridiculously well-paid adult guy into the storm to talk about what it’s like to be in one. And man, did he have some ideas.
Cooper said in the clip, which played just after 9 p.m. EDT, “The wind has really picked up.”
“The water is moving fast. That’s where you can tell how fast the wind is blowing. It’s easy to see in that light. It’s just cutting off the Manatee River right now. It seems to be coming from the northeast, or north. And the water is beginning to really pour. Wow, look at that graph!”
CNN’s Anderson Cooper hit by debris during Hurricane Milton coverage on CNN in Bradenton, Florida. pic.twitter.com/1KHoxUGek8
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) October 10, 2024
Then something hit him in the face. Thank goodness it didn’t look that heavy, because I don’t like seeing people seriously hurt on live TV, but there you go.
Cooper said, “That wasn’t good.”
“I think I’ll go inside soon. But you can see how much water is on the ground. Landfall.”
Author: Blake Ambrose