Hurricane Irene on Page One

TAKEAWAY: It was a weekend of preparations for what President Obama had described as a storm of “historical” proportions.  The northeast of the United States prepared for the worse, and, although it was no walk in the park, Irene did not live up to her full expectations. Here are some pages from cities in the region affected that caught our attention. Hurricane coverage in the US’s northeast As someone who has lived thru many hurricanes first as a child in Cuba and then growing up in Florida, I know how dangerous these can be, and how they usually throw one’s life into turmoil “in preparation for” the hurricane. That is the good thing about tropical storms and hurricanes: they announce themselves, often allowing citizens to prepare. Such was the case with Hurricane Irene, which packed a punch in terms of winds and flooding, and threatened to take the Big Apple and give it a run for its money.  Well, it wasn’t as bad as predicted, although 23 people lost their lives as Irene cut through a swath of cities across the eastern seaboard. Our Reed Reibstein, who lives and works in New York City, put it this way: “We prepared and I even put boxes behind my windows in case the glass shattered, but it didn’t come to that.“ For newspaper editors, however, hurricane coverage usually involves unusual displays of large photos and big headlines, and this time was no exception. Photographers, who know that when they put themselves and their lenses in the eye of the storm it pays off with six-column displays of their work, turn fearless as they catch those images that we love to see. Hurricane Irene photos on Page One do not disappoint..  Even the always photo-shy New York Times went big with a photo on their front page, but, alas, not six columns! We show you some here that did it well. In the case of those feuding rivals in New York City—-the New York Post and the NYDaily News—-it must have been tough to see that they both ended up with the same photo on their Page One. Ouch!!!!   (Next three fronts from Charles Apple’s blog post on Irene front pages.) And coverage of Hurricane Irene was global. Here Frank Deville sends us this double page from Germany’s Bild, which coverage evacuation preparations, including the First Family. Notice interesting photo graphic, highlighting in red the area of most predicted danger for New York City.