White House, U.S. media spats over Hurricane Dorian misinformation

The White House and U.S. media traded attacks Thursday over Hurricane Dorian, blaming each other for confusing and irresponsible remarks.

US President Donald Trump and Acting US Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan update the media on Hurricane Dorian preparedness from the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, September 4, 2019. [Photo: AFP/ JIM WATSON]

The media continued to question U.S. President Donald Trump's sharing of a hurricane forecast map on Wednesday that suggested Dorian was heading towards the state of Alabama, when it was actually moving in another direction.

The media criticized that offering misleading information with the authority of the White House carried serious consequences, especially in the case of a natural disaster.

Trump later said that the map was based on an earlier forecast model which predicted Alabama to be affected, citing an earlier forecast by the National Hurricane Center.

The White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham went on the offensive later during the day, tweeting a screenshot of a CNN TV program on the latest development of Hurricane Dorian, which showed a map that mislabeled the state of Alabama as Mississippi. CNN has since corrected the map.

The back and forth took place as the northbound hurricane slammed into the U.S. states of North and South Carolina Thursday night with strong winds and torrential rains, causing massive power shortages in both states after leaving behind terrible damage in the Bahamas.