Media Coverage of Grass Fire Outbreak
Christine Hurt has some great questions regarding the media coverage of the grass fires in Texas (from Conglomerate via Instapundit).
I find it interesting that the media seems so uninterested in the cause of the fires. The media focuses on the high winds, low humidity, drought conditions, and high temperatures, but these are factors that lead to the rapid spread of the fire and the difficulty of containing the fire, not the factors that caused these fires. During Hurricane Katrina, questions were swirling in the media -- Why didn't people evacuate? Why weren't they forced to evacuate? Who decided to have inferior levees? Who could have prevented this? Why isn't anyone asking these questions about the Texas fires?
Hmmm, anybody have an answer? I don't, but I wish I had thought of the question.
From what I have gleaned off of the internet, I believe most of these fires were human caused - fireworks, burning refuse, discarding cigarettes. The next question for me is how can we better educate the public on the fire danger related to activities? Would stiffer penalties for starting these fires serve as a deterrent?
