Notice how sloppy the press has been with Punta Gorda's population?

[JanMichael]

The April 2003 estimate was 16,591 NOT 14,000, or 15,000, or 13,000, or one of the other guesses by stations.

OK, I suppose one could expect that they use the Census 2000 http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=04000US12&_geoContext=01000US%7C04000US12&_street=&_county=&_cityTown=Punta+Gorda&_state=04000US12&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on">number which is 14,344.

Why don't any of these news organisations have any people that know how to "google" census data????

Why does this bother me? I don't know, I guess I just expect that the people spouting off "news" to the WORLD ought to take some time to type "census population punta gorda" into a damned search engine when a little town gets creamed....

What's so wrong about being specific with commonly accepted data?


PS~ Also notice how the town of Arcadia was wiped out too and there's been very little mention of that rather poor community? Too many Latino farm workers to waste coverage on I guess...

[ewagner]

1. Yes, the media is being sloppy

I've heard a number of misquotes about the storm today on both CNN and MSNBC.

Also....why are they keeping the number of KNOWN deaths quiet? Usually they give a running total but there seems to be an orchestrated effort to keep the number quiet.

Am I just paranoid or is this an organized effort?

[TrustingDog]

2. Using the same calculator that counts Iraqi deaths maybe?

it's broke.