“Why I surely could – but do not – hate the media,” was one of the first headlines I’d written, around four years ago, for one of my first articles in the Daily Post.
Free societies need a free press. Let’s keep this in mind as I’m questioning media coverage of two major, concerning current events…
…the extreme weather that’s been pounding parts of the country, including where my family and I reside in northern California…
…and the banking panic enveloping Silicon Valley Bank, that, like storm clouds, has been threatening to envelop some other regional banks.
But first, as TV meteorologists say… ‘Let’s get to the weather!’
What a pounding we’ve been experiencing, out here on the West Coast, with torrential, oceanic rivers of rain and gale force winds slamming into us, knocking over trees, even big rig trucks, and causing floods.
A local TV station, reporting storm damage around our area, made a point of mentioning how blustery winds had pummeled a building housing an eye care medical practice. And yes, an awning was destroyed, a member of my family (who was having an annual eye check) confirmed with an ophthalmologist… but that was the extent of the damage, and the ophthalmologist wasn’t aware the pummeled awning was in the news.
I can’t remember ever noticing the awning, when I’ve had my eyes checked at the same eye care building. It mustn’t have stood out very much. (And my vision has been pretty good.)
But sometimes, no pun intended, the media’s saturation coverage can get as wild as saturating, blustery weather, and while the storm’s intensity was nothing to be scoffed at, a battered awning might not have warranted TV coverage.
A regional bank, out our way, was getting pounded, but not from bad weather. Unrelenting media coverage of problems at Silicon Valley Bank, like extreme weather in a way, is causing dark, soupy, threatening clouds to drift over other regional banks, and has been causing panic among customers. Panic can cause a run on banks, that may not deserve to be run down, or run over, so to speak.
Like a wildfire, media-driven coverage of significant events can get out of control, scaring the bejesus out of folks, sometimes more than necessary.
How this banking situation turns out, perhaps remains to be seen, but as I’m writing this article, things seem to be calming down.
That storm-battered awning at the eye care place may not be repaired or replaced. But no pun… it’s hard to see how that could be anything to worry about.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.