power of the national press

before I have another "senior moment" and forget to post I thought I'd throw this on as a continuation of the army at disaster sites discussion. During the 97 flood at first there weren't enough Nat'l Guard troops made available. Then my mother, who was trapped by rising water in her condo building, called and said that the helicopters with Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw (a South Dakota boy) had arrived and they were now all over the national news. She said, "I guess what's happening is really important!" I think in the flyover, having national news anchors sent in to cover something is great validation, and I also think it made the people going through that disaster feel less isolated from the rest of the country. And because of the new national press attention the area suddenly got all the National Guard guys and Army guys they needed, so this press attention did help with that, a lot.