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WATCH: As Hurricane Ian Reaches Florida, Media Fixate on Climate Change

September 28, 2022

As Hurricane Ian prepares to make landfall in southwest Florida on Wednesday—endangering countless lives and causing potentially tens of billions of dollars in damages—members of the media have fixated on one thing: climate change.

"Climate change is ravaging the coast," said MSNBC anchor Joy Reid. The storm is a "threat exacerbated, of course, by climate change," claimed network colleague Chris Hayes.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, meanwhile, dismissed journalists' latest obsession.

"To link [climate change] to any one event—I would caution against that," agency hurricane director Jamie Rhome told CNN anchor Don Lemon.