# The news coverage of the Staten Island explosion disturbes me **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 21, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587 "2003-02-21T18:36:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tie-Dye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Tie-Dye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tie-Dye)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/1 "2003-02-21T18:36:44Z")
I came home at 12:20 or so and checked my email, then clicked over to BBC world news ([news.bbc.co.uk](http://news.bbc.co.uk)) for a second. I saw that the top, front page story was an explosion at an oil refinery on Staten Island. This seemed to me to be a fairly big deal, having possible terrorist implications-which is officially ruled out, but worrying. So I click over to CNN.com-nothing about it. Also looked at CNN on the TV as it was the only news I could find-nothing. I looked back at BBC and found that the explosion had occured at 10:10, and that they had reported on the effect of the blast on the oil market at least an hour before. As I was watching CNN at 12:45 or so, the story broke on CNN with an official statement from the mayor, two and a half hours after the explosion. I would think that such a visible event (plumes of black smoke over NYC and a huge fire) would have warranted some breaking news without an official statement. This definitly helped confirm my loss of faith in the american news system. Any thoughts or explainations? ---
**Author:** ![cherry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/2 "2003-02-21T18:40:07Z")
For what its worth I was watching live on cnn as breaking news as it was happening… about an hour later the smoke did die down considerably. But yes it was on tv. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/3 "2003-02-21T18:41:23Z")
MSNBC was covering the hell out of it, and noted the spike in oil prices. Sometimes news organizations are slow in covering a story. It’s not a conspiracy, not bias, not incompetence. It just happens. ---
**Author:** ![yawndave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/43a26b/32.png) [@yawndave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawndave)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/4 "2003-02-21T18:53:05Z")
I wonder if that event will be used as an excuse to raise gas prices here in California… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/5 "2003-02-21T18:59:32Z")
Here are the two headlines in My Yahoo!: # === Stocks Snap Back After Falling on NY Blast Oil Prices Jump on NY Fuel Barge Blast Well, which is it, guys? Did the pricesdrop, then snap back, or jump, then drop? Can’t have it both ways… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/6 "2003-02-21T19:15:51Z")
> [@](#): > > I wonder if that event will be used as an excuse to raise gas prices here in California… You ever notice that _every_ year there is a refinery fire, and _every_ year they blame it for the higher gas prices all across the country? Now if I were _cynical_, I’d imagine They have big burners at all of the refineries and They fire one or two up every year. “Hey, look at _this!_ Sorry, but we’ll have to raise prices. (snicker snicker snicker)” Of course that doesn’t happen. That the explosions happen with some regularity is only a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/7 "2003-02-21T19:25:55Z")
Stocks dropped because of terrorism fears. Oil prices rose because of a disruption in the oil products supply chain. They’re prices of two totally separate things. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/8 "2003-02-21T19:44:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*That the explosions happen with some regularity is only a coincidence. \*\* Not a coincidence, a natural consequence of that industry. When you’re dealing with explosive/flammable materials, and something goes wrong, you get explosions and flames. The surprising thing is that it doesn’t happen more often. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/9 "2003-02-21T19:57:58Z")
The news coverage disturbs me too, but not in the same way. I wish my city would stop blowing up already. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/10 "2003-02-21T20:08:11Z")
Gee, **Biggirl** , I just don’t understand why that would set you at ease! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/11 "2003-02-21T20:09:52Z")
Hot damn, I left out a negative in there somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/12 "2003-02-21T21:03:29Z")
> [@](#): > > The surprising thing is that it doesn’t happen more often. Yeah, it’s amazing that it only happens in time to raise prices for the summer. [sub]No, I’m not a conspiracy freak. Just a little comedy, in case I’m wooshing anyone.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/13 "2003-02-21T22:00:07Z")
Wow, when does summer come around YOUR neck of the woods, Johnny L.A.? Send it eastwardly if you wouldn’t mind. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-news-coverage-of-the-staten-island-explosion-disturbes-me/156587/14 "2003-02-21T22:07:15Z")
It’s _always_ summer here. Godammit. But hey, it’s February. They tell us that it takes a long time to stock up the tanks for summer. Of course when summer does roll around they say that they didn’t put enough gas in the storage tanks, so they have to charge more for it; and the fires, you know…