Trump blasted reporting from Puerto Rico as ‘fake news.’ Heeding it might have saved lives.

By Margaret Sullivan
Media Columnist
July 13 at 11:34 AM

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Although the official death count was under 100, independent reports have it as much higher — with some estimates at 4,600, according to the New York Times, and the main culprit as being delayed medical care.

Reporting on those conditions came in steadily from major news organizations as well as from government officials — such as the disparaged San Juan mayor, Carmen Yulín Cruz.

But they fell on deaf ears in the White House.

David Begnaud, the CBS News reporter who has doggedly stayed with the story of Maria’s devastation, called the report a “dizzying indictment of FEMA’s lack of preparedness.”

And you have to ask, “What if?”

What if the reporting on the ground had been taken seriously — as something to be heeded, and reacted to, instead of summarily dismissed?

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