Storm sensation
There is something a touch over-the-top about the South China Morning Post’s story on Typhoon Usagi, which has been billed as the biggest Hong Kong will witness in over three decades.
Such as declaring that the “severe storm” has made landfall, when in the same story the weather bureau is saying that it’s still 110km away.
And “lashes”? From where Dr Mumbo was sitting at the time of writing on Hong Kong island, the most dramatic description of the weather he can think of was heavy drizzle.
And wait for it… another story published on SCMP.com about half an hour later (sourced from AP) declares that the storm has, in fact, veered from Hong Kong to Southern China.
The South China Morning Post helpfully tweeted the update, but sadly with a link to the ‘storm lashes Hong Kong’ story.
Though perhaps Usagi wasn’t the storm SCMP hoped it would be, the 30+ stories the Post wrote about it would have amassed plenty of clicks.
If the SCMP remains in any doubt about the severity of the storm, then perhaps it should listen to its own readers…
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