Daniel Drezner and Michele Catalano each look at what happens when television news lets its emotions get the best of itself and substitutes hyperbole for serious coverage of hurricanes. TV of course, is built on such emotionalism, but as Glenn Reynolds writes, decades of hype has its price:

God supposedly looks after fools and drunkards, and after watching some of the coverage from Bourbon Street, I'd say He will have his hands full tomorrow. But though some people might want to, in the words of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, "think of it as evolution in action," I think there's another issue here: The wages of hurricane hype.

News outlets generally, and cable news channels in particular, tend to overhype hurricanes. But while I hope that this will just be another case of media hysteria, I can't help feel that the previous wolf-crying played a major role in people's complacency.

If things turn out as badly as feared, complacency won't be a problem for a while. But I hope that people in the press will remember the wages of crying wolf in other contexts. Too much hype, and people tune out.

Update: Welcome, Daou Report readers.