British Media Put Boot into Tenerife with Horrendous Forest Fire Stories

After the forest fires last week on Tenerife and La Gomera I wanted to say how bad (i.e. rubbish) I thought the press coverage was in the UK, not only were they days behind on events, but they dramatized it so much the reports were in fact completely in accurate.

The day that the fires were being downgraded to level 1, the British tabloids got hold of the news and proclaimed that Tenerife was a blaze, and that British citizens should keep in contact with the foreign office.

Tenerife Forest Fire from Alcala August 2012

The press combined the fires on La Gomera, where the impact was far worse, with those on Tenerife, not mentioning that La Gomera is in fact a completely different island. In one article the press said that Valle Gran Ray was actually on Tenerife, it’s not, it’s on La Gomera.

Even the mentioning of thousands evacuating homes was misrepresented. These evacuations were largely on La Gomera, and the evacuations on Tenerife were of small communities in the hills far from the tourist resorts that are completely unaffected.

Tourist in the popular resorts would have been completely unaware of the fires unless they were watching the local news on TV. The only give away being the seaplanes and helicopters carrying water.

Anyone wondering if it is safe to Travel to Tenerife due to the fires, rest assured it is. It’s just the tabloids dramatizing tragic events to sell papers, and second rate lazy journalism.

End of rant.