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Today Show Canoe

profwaggstaff · 1.3M views · 2011-04-23 · 1:14

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Overview

An NBC Today Show correspondent appears to row a canoe in deep storm floodwater, though the water is only about six inches deep. The uploader notes it is a misleading depiction rather than intentional fake news.

On Hacker News

HN commenters use it as a favorite example of how TV imagery can craft a misleading reality.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2016–2023

Topics

Media, journalism & propaganda
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tv newsmisleading imageryfloodingmedia criticism

What people said

munificent · 2023-07 · Reference

As someone who has experienced several serious floods, this is my favorite example of imagery's ability to craft a reality: [VIDEO] Floodwaters tend to stir up a lot of dirt and mud, so the water is usually totally opaque. That makes it very hard to tell how deep it is. A lot of overhead views of flooded neighborhoods look completely disastrous, but in reality it's just a foot or two of water that will just go away once the drains can handle it. But, sometimes, flooding really is severe and the damage is monumental. But it can be hard to distinguish those from imagery. Every picture of a flood looks biblical.

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ishjoh · 2019-12 · Reference

One of my favourite examples of this is from "the today show" on NBC where they're discussing a flood and a reporter in a canoe is describing the events when two public citizens walk through the shot and the water seems to be less than 1/2 a foot deep. [VIDEO]

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exclusiv · 2016-07 · Criticism

You're absolutely right. Our news media is terrible. We have reporters on "respected" shows sensationalizing flooding in canoes! [1] They love to divide us based on race, sex, whatever, but the data doesn't support their claims of crisis. And we gobble it up. [1] [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by profwaggstaff, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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