WorldTVNews.com
WorldTVNews.com
Anger about oil disaster in general population is muted, because damage and effects are difficult to capture visually
May 30, 2010
WorldTVNews.com
DALLAS - While many are calling the BP oil well leak the most severe natural diaster in American history, the general population is not likely to accept that assessment immediately or without additional evidence, because video of the oil in the water and marshes around the Gulf Coast is not dramatic enough.
By comparison, almost any hurricane that makes landfall destroys enough property to create striking visuals.
Looking for oil on the beach in Lafourche, Louisiana. EPA Photo.
It also could be that the worst is yet to come.
This weekend, an aircrew from the Coast Guard Air Station in Clearwater, Fla., dropped a satellite-enabled data marker buoy into the Gulf of Mexico from a C-130 aircraft. The equipment is designed to help track the spill in support of a massive overall response.
The Coast Guard images also appear to be insufficient to create major public outrage over the seriousness of the oil disaster outside of the impacted region, because most media coverage will continue to focus on what could happen to coastal areas instead of what is happening now.
Preparing a buoy over the Gulf of Mexico. Coast Guard photo.