Blog 2.2 - "Hurricanes and Agenda Control"

1. The media has been covering a failed health care bill, a primary election in Alabama, and a dispute between Trump and some NFL players, among other topics. 
2. Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico seem to be mentioned about 2,000 fewer times. When Puerto Rico is compared to Texas, that number climbs to about 3,000. 
3. Hurricane Maria was mentioned about half as much as Harvey and Irma. Texas was mentioned three times more than Puerto Rico, and Florida four times as much. 
4. BBC covered Hurricane Maria more than its US counterparts, and CNN covered it more than its US competitors. 
5. Many people cite Puerto Rico's territorial status as the reason for its lack of attention and delays in aid. 
6. People will not know about the hurricanes, first of all. Those that do know will not care that much, nor will they place hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico high on the list of things the government should do. 
7. The idea that the media does not pay attention to territories is very likely. Americans, as the article states, don't even know that Puerto Rican residents are American citizens, so they would think that Puerto Rico matters as much as American states like Texas and Florida. 
8. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists probably sees this undercoverage as a result of bias or prejudice toward Hispanics, considering that is the majority of the population of Puerto Rico. They would be sympathetic to the situation of Puerto Ricans; thus they would call for more attention to place it higher on the policy agenda. 
9. More media coverage would mean greater awareness. Greater awareness would almost certainly have led to faster relief efforts and aid delivery from the mainland United States, and it would probably also lead to greater donations directly from and for citizens. 
10. The government would not have hesitated in their delivery of aid. I imagine the amount of aid given would probably be much greater, and the insults hurled at Puerto Rican officials would have seen a lot more backlash than they did.