Oklahoma City stations have been live around the clock in the aftermath of Monday’s devastating tornado. The stations have been praised for their “thoughtful, professional, experienced” reporting during and after the twister.
All four stations were live during the storm, with meteorologists and anchors issuing repeated warnings for people in the storm’s path to take shelter.
“You folks in Moore, grab whatever it is you need to grab and you need to go underground. Bottom line: grab your kids, grab your loved ones, grab your friends,” KFOR chief meteorologist Mike Morgan said shortly before the tornado hit. “And just get out of the way.”
In her press conference Monday night, Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin thanked the local media for early warnings of the tornado threat.
“The media’s done a superb job over the last few days of keeping people informed about the conditions, especially our weathermen and those that have been on the ground, driving, following and tracking the storm itself,” Fallin said.
The local stations’ coverage was available online via live stream. Stations were praised by the Columbia Journalism Review, which noted stations provided “life-saving information before the tornado, essential reporting afterward.”
More recognition from Jim Roberts, the executive editor of Reuters Digital, who tweeted:
Worth repeating. Very impressed by thoughtful, professional, experienced local news reporters & anchors in Oklahoma today.
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) May 20, 2013
NBC affiliate KFOR, CBS affiliate KWTV and ABC affiliate KOCO were live all night with local coverage of the tornado’s aftermath. Fox affiliate KOKH went back to regular programming at midnight.