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Hurricane Isaias leaves at least four dead and hundreds of thousands without power

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 25 outlets across the spectrum.

72 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

Satellite view of a hurricane with spiral cloud bands over the Gulf of Mexico near Florida.
Image via The Epoch TimesHow images are chosenReport this image

Hurricane Isaias made landfall as a Category 2 storm near Destin, Florida, on Friday night. At least four people were reported dead, according to local authorities. Hundreds of thousands of customers lost power across Florida, Alabama and Georgia; Governor Ron DeSantis said 448,000 people in Florida were without power on Saturday morning. The storm weakened as it moved north, and forecasters warned of flooding and tornadoes in the Appalachians and mid-Atlantic. Outage totals differed by time and source, and disaster advocate Tara Boyd said recovery could take years.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. Isaias made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane near Destin, Florida, on Friday night.

    Across the spectrumReported byLeft2Center3Right1Far Right2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    CBS News, ABC News
    Center
    BBC News, Deutsche Welle, Straight Arrow News
    Right
    New York Post
    Far Right
    Just the News, The Epoch Times
  2. At least four people were reported dead.

    Reported byLeft4Center1Right1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The New York Times, NBC News, CBS News, ABC News
    Center
    Sky News
    Right
    New York Post
    Far Right
    The Epoch Times
  3. Hundreds of thousands of customers lost power across Florida, Alabama and Georgia.

    Reported byLeft3Right1Far Right2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The New York Times, CBS News, ABC News
    Right
    New York Post
    Far Right
    Just the News, The Epoch Times
  4. Governor Ron DeSantis said 448,000 people in Florida were without power on Saturday morning.

    One outletThe Epoch Times· Far Right

  5. Forecasters warned of flooding and tornadoes as the weakened storm moved north.

    Reported byLeft2Center1Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    NBC News, ABC News
    Center
    Deutsche Welle
    Right
    New York Post
  6. Disaster advocate Tara Boyd said the recovery could take years.

    One outletThe Center Square· Right

What is contested

Where accounts differ

Points the coverage does not agree on, and who says what.

  • Power outages reached more than 900,000 people.

    Just the News reported more than 900,000 without power; Epoch Times cited nearly 500,000 by Saturday evening, and ABC News, citing the Associated Press, reported nearly 396,000 customers early Sunday.

  • Four people were killed.

    Straight Arrow News reported two storm-related deaths, while most other outlets reported at least four.

How each side tells it

Compare views

All three sides report that Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, and that at least four people died. Left and center headlines lead with the death toll and the storm’s movement, while right-side outlets emphasize outage totals, surge warnings and long recovery.

  • the left

    8 outlets

    Leads with the death toll and outages, and NBC stresses ongoing flood and tornado threats while the New York Times stresses relief that damage was less than feared.

    4 Killed as a Weakened Isaias Pushes Through the Southeast
    The New York TimesLeftAll left-leaning headlines
  • the center

    6 outlets

    Headlines state landfall and the danger in plain terms, with BBC leading on life-threatening danger and Sky News using the violent verb crashes into.

    Life-threatening Hurricane Isaias makes landfall in Florida
    BBC NewsCenterAll center headlines
  • the right

    11 outlets

    Headlines lead with death tolls, outage counts and storm surge, with Far Right outlets using slams and heads north while Center Square leads on a survivor’s warning of years of recovery.

    At Least 4 Dead From Hurricane Isaias, Nearly 500,000 Without Power
    The Epoch TimesFar RightAll right-leaning headlines

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left1

    Shocking

  • Center2

    smashed intocrashes into

  • Right0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

In the outlets’ own words

  • Sensational language

    ShockingMore neutral: Videos show the moment Hurricane Isaias hit the Gulf Coast

    The word adds drama that the video footage itself does not establish; the headline could state what the videos show without an evaluative adjective.

    Watch: Shocking videos show the moment Hurricane Isaias hit the Gulf Coast

    Used byCBS News (Left)

  • Loaded verb

    smashed intoMore neutral: made landfall on

    The verb of violent impact adds drama to a landfall that other outlets describe in plainer terms.

    Four people have died after Hurricane Isaias smashed into the US Gulf Coast.

    Used bySky News (Center)

  • Loaded verb

    crashes intoMore neutral: makes landfall in

    The verb of violent collision adds drama to a landfall that other outlets describe in plainer terms.

    Four dead as Hurricane Isaias crashes into US - as Mexico braces itself for major storm

    Used bySky News (Center)

Words quoted from someone else (2)Hide the quoted words

Loaded words that outlets reported someone else saying. They show what was said, not how the outlet chose to say it.

  • Sensational language

    Quoted

    like a Mike Tyson punchMore neutral: came in quickly, as the lieutenant governor described it

    The boxing comparison is a dramatic characterization of the storm’s arrival that goes beyond the measured facts of its landfall.

    It came in like a Mike Tyson punch,” Collins told Fox News on Friday night.

    Quoted byNew York Post (Right)

    Inside a quotation: the outlets are reporting someone else’s words.

  • Sensational language

    Quoted

    like a freight trainMore neutral: said the storm hit hard, as reported by the lieutenant governor

    The dramatic comparison is a quoted opinion about the storm’s force that the headline presents without a measured description of the wind speed.

    Hurricane Isaias hit Florida ‘like a freight train’ as storm leaves over 420K without power, Lt.

    Quoted byNew York Post (Right)

    Inside a quotation: the outlets are reporting someone else’s words.

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

8 outlets

Leads with

  • death toll
  • power outages
  • ongoing flood and tornado threat
  • relief that damage was limited
See the 10 headlines from the leftHide the headlines

From the center

6 outlets

Leads with

  • landfall in Florida
  • life-threatening danger
  • reach into Mexico and other states

Leaves out

  • power outage totals

Reported by other sides, not found in this side’s coverage.

See the 6 headlines from the centerHide the headlines

From the right

11 outlets

Leads with

  • death toll and outages
  • storm surge warnings
  • a survivor’s long recovery
See the 15 headlines from the rightHide the headlines

Articles you open from here build My Mix, a private picture of how your reading spreads across the spectrum, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    7 hr 48 min later

    Its first report, Oct 9, 7:04 PM EDT

  • Center

    10 hr 43 min later

    Its first report, Oct 9, 9:58 PM EDT

  • Right

    First to report

    Breitbart News, Oct 9, 11:15 AM EDT

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. Breitbart NewsFar RightOct 9, 11:15 AM EDT
  2. NBC NewsLeftOct 9, 7:04 PM EDT
  3. The GuardianLeftOct 9, 9:44 PM EDT
  4. New York PostRightOct 9, 9:53 PM EDT
  5. BBC NewsCenterOct 9, 9:58 PM EDT
  6. The Epoch TimesFar RightOct 9, 10:06 PM EDT
  7. Deutsche WelleCenterOct 9, 10:15 PM EDT
  8. Sky NewsCenterOct 9, 10:15 PM EDT
  9. CBS NewsLeftOct 10, 2:23 AM EDT
  10. ABC NewsLeftOct 10, 3:41 AM EDT
  11. Al Jazeera EnglishLeftOct 10, 4:33 AM EDT
  12. BloombergLeftOct 10, 5:32 AM EDT
  13. The Daily WireFar RightOct 10, 8:31 AM EDT
  14. The Center SquareRightOct 10, 11:47 AM EDT
  15. Straight Arrow NewsCenterOct 10, 12:45 PM EDT
  16. NPRLeftOct 10, 1:14 PM EDT
  17. The Washington TimesRightOct 10, 1:32 PM EDT
  18. The New York TimesLeftOct 10, 2:17 PM EDT
  19. Fox NewsFar RightOct 10, 3:01 PM EDT
  20. RedStateFar RightOct 10, 5:46 PM EDT
  21. France 24CenterOct 11, 5:18 AM EDT
  22. PBS NewsHourCenterOct 11, 4:44 PM EDT
  23. One America NewsFar RightOct 11, 6:02 PM EDT
  24. CBN NewsFar RightOct 11, 11:45 PM EDT

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out. Just the News gave only a date, so it is not placed.

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