While it is essential to hold politicians accountable for their actions, mainstream media often focuses on the reputations of these individuals and their continuously controversial beliefs instead of the issue at hand and potential (bipartisan) solutions. This winter disaster highlighted a couple of major tensions within the relationship of media and its influence on our current political landscape.

Instead of taking swift action to address the crisis, they redirected blame towards progressive policies, renewable energy, and anything else onto which they could grasp to diminish the several systemic shortcomings that initially led to the disaster. NPR reported in late March that 111 people had died as a result of the storm, according to the Texas State Department of Health Services.Īs Texans boiled snow for clean water and slept in rooms where icicles formed inside their homes, their politicians abandoned them. As of March 1 - two weeks after electricity returned - almost 400,000 residents were still lacking guaranteed clean water following a disruption to water systems and supplies. While official numbers will not be finalized for months, dozens of recorded deaths have already been associated with the storm and its related consequences. Millions of residents across the state were subjected to power outages and empty grocery shelves reminiscent of early-coronavirus pandemic panic. In February of this year, a winter storm swept through Texas, bringing snow and freezing temperatures that sent the entire state’s power grid into failure.

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