From [HERE] Student journalist Andrew Kingsbury called out CNN’s Abby Phillip and the legacy media for failing to accurately cover the neglect that the victims of Hurricane Helene continue to face.

Kingsbury asked why, given the government’s failure to address the devastating conditions facing Americans, the national media seems uninterested in the story.

Phillip’s response was to essentially acknowledge that FEMA failed in its response but that coverage was also likely muted because of the political implications.

Andrew Kingsbury: Hi, I’m Andrew Kingsbury. I’m an extension school alum. I was recently in Western North Carolina in the Asheville area, responding to the hurricane. I was there for about two weeks, and the sense that I got was that those people were abandoned by their government, but also by, not so much the local media and press, but the national press.

The operation that I was part of is the first time in American history that there’s been an FAA-registered, civilian-run disaster relief helicopter operation because there was such a vacuum that a Green Beret Master Sergeant, he essentially… He lost his wife and daughter for a couple of days. He couldn’t find them. After finding them, he realized, “Where are the helicopters? I’m going to find out why. I’m just going to call my friends and I’m going to ask them to bring their helicopters.”That’s what happened, 35 helicopters at the peak rescuing people.

I stopped at the National Press Club in DC on my way back. I’ve spoken to multiple members of the press here, Washington Post reporters, Katie Couric even, and nobody seems to know anything about this level of abandonment. I’d like to end with this question, which is not my own question.I guess it is my question, and the people that are there.

This is Matt Van Swol if that’s how his name is pronounced, on X, saying, “It’s been 45 days since Helene hit Western North Carolina. There’s still no clean drinking water in the city of Asheville. Trash is swinging from the trees 20 feet high. Kids in Yancey County won’t go back to school until late November. Where are the reporters? We still need help.”

That’s how I also feel, based on my, I believe at this point, objective experience of going to the National Press Club, speaking to various national-level reporters here and around the country, and them not really having any clue as to what’s going on, what happened, and it’s still going on.

So that Matt Van Swol’s question, please.

Abby Phillip: Yeah, I totally take the question and also the critique. I think it’s correct, actually. I wonder the same thing. I think that…

Andrew Kingsbury:Can we get some reporters there? Yeah.

Abby Phillip:No, I mean, look, I’m sitting here thinking, I will take this back, right? Because I can give you a lot of reasons, perhaps, why maybe there has not been a persistent remaining interest in what’s happened there. I think in general, journalists have not been very good about sticking with communities long after they’ve been affected by something. That’s just in general, right? [MORE]