• CNN and MSNBC covered acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson’s comment that he had been unaware of hurricane season for a combined 41 minutes across 28 segments and teasers (14 and 14, respectively) on June 3, when the networks first began covering the story.

• Fox News seemingly ignored the story, airing no segments on the FEMA head’s remark on June 2 or June 3.

• 11 of the 14 segments on CNN and MSNBC discussed wider concerns that FEMA is ill-prepared for hurricane season. Each mentioned at least one of the following points:

  • The acting administrator has no disaster management experience. As CNN’s Kate Bolduan pointed out, Richardson’s remark “raised concerns among some staffers” about his experience. “He's a Marine combat veteran, martial arts instructor with little experience in handling natural disasters,” she said. 

  • FEMA staff are uncertain about the agency’s plan for major disasters after Richardson rescinded the agency's strategic plan in the weeks leading up to hurricane season and then told staff “there would be no changes to the agency's disaster response plans.” CNN’s Erica Hill noted that “there are serious questions about just how prepared FEMA overall is for this hurricane season and any other disasters it may face.” Hill also mentioned Richardson's past promise to release an updated hurricane disaster plan and then his rescission of that pledge.

  • Cuts and layoffs especially among experienced staff are impacting the agency. CNN’s Audie Cornish directed viewers to a New York Times article that “zeroes in on the senior leaders leaving an already depleted agency that could lose even more of its workforce by the end of the year.” In fact, FEMA has lost 10% of staff while the agency is expected to lose close to 30% of its workforce by the end of the year. Among these losses are senior leadership including at least 16 senior executives.

• CNN’s coverage included interviews with former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Richard Spinrad, who discussed in detail how recent actions and layoffs at FEMA could hurt disaster response. 

Fox News relentlessly scrutinized and attacked disaster response under President Joe Biden as part of its coverage of extreme weather events, including repeatedly using misinformation to attack FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene. Under Trump, the network is striking a much different tone. 

A recent Media Matters review of major extreme weather coverage spanning more than two months found that Fox News was quiet about multiple states that expressed frustration over delayed or denied disaster relief under the Trump administration. 

During this period, the network also ignored concerns emergency managers have raised over the administration’s plans to “eliminate FEMA” and the agency’s reported lack of preparation for this year’s extreme weather season.

Fox’s lack of coverage of Richardson’s comment about hurricane season is another example of the network’s conspicuous shift on how it covers extreme weather under Trump. 

Of the 41 minutes dedicated to FEMA preparedness and Richardson’s remarks on cable news on June 3, CNN aired 19 minutes. Nearly half of that time came from two interviews with emergency response experts. 

CNN This Morning conducted an interview with former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who among other things discussed Richardson’s elimination of the agency’s strategic plan. Criswell told CNN’s Audie Cornish that “with that [strategic plan] gone and not something in place I think there’s still some ambiguity then to what is going to be expected of FEMA coming into this hurricane season.”

On CNN News Central, anchor Erica Hill asked former NOAA Administrator Richard Spinrad about “the impact of not having an updated disaster plan when it comes to not only preparations but also response.” Spinrad responded, “Well, in short, the impact is that American citizens and communities and industries will face some serious consequences.” 

Asked about the loss of staff and “institutional knowledge and experience at the agency,” Spinrad mentioned the “whack-a-mole approach that you have to take … if you don’t have enough people to deal with multiple incidents.” He continued:

MSNBC aired 22 minutes of coverage. On MSNBC, Chris Jansing Reports featured a  guest panel which unpacked questions related to Richardson’s experience and whether the agency is prepared for hurricane season including the loss of experienced staff. 

Ashley Parker, staff writer at The Atlantic, told Jansing that among FEMA staff, “there is an incredible sense that you cannot do cuts that are so deep and so far, at least in such a haphazard manner and chaotic manner as we have seen from DOGE and not lose good people, not have unintended consequences … .” She added that there is “real widespread concern throughout the government.”

Media Matters searched transcripts in the Snapstream video database for all original programming on CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC for any of the terms “Federal Emergency Management Agency,” “FEMA,” “administrator,” “head,” “chief,” “David,” or “Richardson” within close proximity to any of the terms “hurricane,” “told,” or “staff” or any variation of the terms “remark,” “comment,” “aware,” or “joke” from June 2, when acting FEMA chief David Richardson told staff he was unaware of hurricane season, through June 3, 2025

We timed segments, which we defined as instances when Richardson’s comment about hurricane season was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of these comments. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed David Richardson’s comments about hurricane season with one another.

We also timed mentions, which we defined Instances when a single speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned Richardson’s comment about hurricane season without another speaker in the segment engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about Richardson’s comment about hurricane season scheduled to air later in the broadcast.

We rounded all times to the nearest minute.

We then reviewed the identified segments for whether any speaker(s) mentioned concerns about Richardson’s lack of disaster management or reports that FEMA is ill-prepared for hurricane season.