Boy, reading that dialogue reminds me of the MSM's coverage of the SF Earthquake in 1989. I had friends calling me from all around the world, thinking that the whole Bay Area had collapsed, just because all Dan Blather et al. showed was the Bay Bridge, the Marina and the Cypress structure where the major damage was. Never mentioned that 90% of the Bay Area, while jolted pretty good, was pretty much back to normal within about 4 or 5 hours!
Same way with the 1993 flood. One would have thought the whole midwest was under water.