75.43%	Yes
24.56%	No

Comment: You do not want the attention to this spill minimized! from Robertsdale/AL by Steve

Comment: You better believe they have! Anything to be the first to report the worst of the doom and gloom. It's all about the ratings and the $. Sadly, it chased away the $, and we've spent all of the summer trying to dispell the half truths blown out of proportion by the media. by Hot in Florida

Comment: I think the media was very irresponsible for its sensational circus-like reporting on the spill. I hope they win all the media awards and fill all the advertising spots they are hoping for. Meanwhile,they really hurt alot of businesses and individuals. from Pensacola/FL by C

Comment: I don't believe the media has exaggerated the amount but it leads the public to believe there is a lot more than there is because stories are repeated over and over again as well as showing the same videos and pictures over and over. People get the idea that what they are seeing is something new. from Cantonment by Archie

Comment: Definitely...When you take videos of your business property on a daily basis showing clean beaches to post online and customers out of town think you are altering the truth because of the media (including WEAR) shows a definite problem! You shouldn't have to prove a picture...the truth is in the pictures!!!! Tourism is down due to the media blowing this out of proportion! This is bad enough without focusing on the negatives - show the positive areas that have not been as severely affected! from Pensacola, FL by Cheryl

Comment: Yes, the media is exaggerating! It is quite a shame because it is hurting the already strained economy! from Pensacola, FL

Comment: YOU ALSO EXAGGERATE WEATHER,TOO.... from pncla by paul

Comment: The news media often exaggerates bad news. I suppose sensationalism is required for media to exist. from pensacola, florida by Jane

Comment: I have relatives in several states and they think all the beaches in the state are ruined by oil. I'm constantly telling people we are fine. CNN kept a caption on their station for weeks stating BEACHES IN FL CLOSED!!!They didn't say it was a very small area in Perdido key. I think people who thought the beaches were closed have now gone to other states to vacation and this season is now a loss for those of us that count on the beach for our livelihood, like me I work at a hotel on the beach. Our hours are cut and business is slow, SAD from Ft Walton Beach, FL by Rebecca

Comment: I have 22 years of Offshore Oil & Gas feild experience as an Offshore Surveyor. I know, not think, that it has been under estimated. Off the coast of Louisiana,there has been a dead zone for over 30 years, nothing can live there because of oil spills in the past that dispersants were used. Dispersants caused the oil to sink, then natural microbs have fed on this sunken oil and depleted oxygen , nothing can live there now, miles of barren dead ocean bottom, it has even killed the great Flower Gardens reef. This is what our offshore fishery has to look forward too. Benzine, Mercury, Barium and other heavy metals are byproducts of drilling as well. All can be absorbed through the skin when swimming. Face,Northwest Florida is dead, dying and will never be the same again. from Pensacola,FL. by Keith

Comment: I own Horizon Beach Service, Inc. We rent chairs, umbrellas and non-motorized water toys on Pensacola Beach and I am there on the beach all day every day and there is no doubt that the initial reporting was grossly exaggerated. I saw many mornings where your channel 3 reports said "the beach was closed" and the beach has not been closed once! There were only 2 or 3 days where people were advised to stay out of the water because of oil, The other days was because of high surf and you never made the distinction, but the beach was never closed. I also saw national news show clumps of seaweed and imply it was oil. Media has been very inacurate and done more damage to my business than the oil itself. from Pensacola, Fl by Larry

Comment: The media was way out of line in reporting the oil on our beaches.Blew the stories way out of proportion scaring the tourist away. from Milton,fl by Barbara

Comment: Yall been reporting this oil just to make Obama look bad. You tryn to run him off because he a strong black man. from Pensacola by Willamae

Comment: no. As long a BP has other wells in the gulf, A threat still exist. The same procedures that went into building and operating this well were surely used in other BP wells. from milton/fl by seay

Comment: Panic and sensationalism make thier little news hearts go pitter patter from milton fl by dale

Comment: It was a big waste of BP ad money telling everyone come to FL and the news media telling how bad the oil on the beaches is. from Milton by Daniel

Comment: Exaggeration of the amount of oil, NO. Exaggeration of the outcome, severely over-emphasized. Nobody knows exactly what the results (long-term or short) will be. This has NEVER happened before in the Gulf of Mexico. Let's just wait and see what will happen; speculation should be left on Wall Street. from Mary Esther, FL. by Tom

Comment: I totally agree. I think that while yes, there was oil on the beaches, but there really wasnt as much as the media made it seem. The pictures and video, while horribly upsetting, only really showed part of the beach, not the entire picture. I live in Pensacola, and I love Pensacola, but even I only believe a small portion of what the media says. from Pensacola, FL by Whitney and Bekah

Comment: The national media caused as much damage to our area as BP, channel 3 is the only media that reported accurately from Gulf Breeze, FL by Sally

Comment: absolutely. They exagerrated it before the 1st tar ball hit the shore and killed tourism for the year befare there were any effects from the oil spill. from gulf breeze fl by grant

Comment: YES!!!!! I have a business at pensacola beach and due to the media more than the oil spill my business is down 75%. There was only 2 days when I would really say there was oil on the beach. but the media made it like the beach was covered and saturated with oil. If you would only tell the truth. Everything is made much worse than it really is. Instead of people tuning in to see the news I have heard alot of people saying they are not watching the news. Too much gloom and doom and lies. If it were possible the media should be sued along with BP. from Navarre by Deborah

Comment: My sister in MI said they showed the worse beaches and was talking about fl.This was done more than 1 time from Ft. walton beach fl by Sandra

Comment: WEAR constantly keep showing old videos and pictures of oil in the water and beaches. I think WEAR is more responsible for running off the tourist from coming here than BP. Quit showing old pictures and making negative stories about the oil here in Florida and pensacola beaches. from milton by john

Comment: Our business and area has suffered severely due to misinformation, lack of tourist dollars. from navarre by jennifer

Comment: Ever since the spill started, I've watched the national news, and although they didn't always hit the mark, I never heard them lie about anything that I knew was true. from Loxley, AL by Irwin

Comment: Even our own local media has portrayed the beaches as being black and "covered with oil". That is simply not the case. I have been numerous times to the beaches all the way from Ft. Pickens to east of Portofino, and while there are varying degrees of tarballs, they are mostly in a thin line where the surf washes them up. There is no place that is "covered in oil", and the water has no coating of oil on the surface. This is the reality we should be broadcasting -- and could have saved us many thousands (millions?) of tourist dollars. The environmental impact is enormous and will affect us for a long, long time. But, as of yet, the oil is NOT ON THE BEACHES! (several of the responses you aired did not even address the question asked: other BP rigs in the gulf are a threat; the offshoreman that said the impact is underestimated -- these were not answering the question that was asked) from Pensacola by John

Comment: Absolutely! Media coverage, not the oil spill itself, is the reason behind the poor tourist turnout this summer. from Gulf Breeze, FL by Hugh

Comment: go by the dock and dig 2 feet or less and will find that bp is covering up the oil on the beaches instead of cleaning it up properly

Comment: No, the media has told the story, in fact dfrom what I have been tld the media has withheld a lot of truths. I live on this beach and have seen the cover up.... from Pensacola Beach, Fl by Esther

Comment: I don't think the media has exaggerated the amount of oil on FL beaches..workers are still out every day removing oil from the beautiful sands and we still don't know for certain if the water is safe for swimming. I understand it is devestating to our local business, but how can we tell tourists to come to the beach when even some locals don't think it is safe. I want to go back to the beach...as soon as someone can tell me it is perfectly safe for my small children to dig in the sand and swim in the water!! from Pensacola, FL by Jennifer

Comment: truthfully i think the local bussiness and people that live near beach are the ones claiming there was more spill, thinking they can get more money from their claims. the states are full of people that wants something for nothing-and i hope they dont get much. the ecomony has a lot to do with bussiness being off. have you tried to get work latly? to be honest most people are tired of hearing about the oil--------- from pensacola, fl by john

Comment: Keeith Overton is not an oil expert, nor a scientist. Just a dumb ass wanting his time in the media. The media reports waht agencies tell them. The media is not the experts. I guess he could sue the federal government too as they also put out reports. Also Joe Blow standing on the street corner sharing his abundance of knowledge as Idiot Keith Overton did. I guess the CEO Keith Overton also "wants his life back" Get over it little boy chicken little. Your the only one sqwaking... Oh, by the way this gets him free media attention to his resort. The media needs to charge him for that lime lighting. from Pensacola,FL by Flower

Comment: Accurate reporting by the media ended in about the 1960's! from Pensacola/FL by J.

Comment: I have been here for a month and have only seen a few tar balls.

Comment: The media always exaggerates on news storys. Business will pickup when these people leave. Even the Chicago Mob from the white house comes here and leaves a little hot air then leaves. We will be 100% better when they forget about us. by Rachael

Comment: YES! It's been a feeding frenzy. The most damaging (any untrue) stories have been by the national media, e.g., MSNBC and others - but our local 'blogger / journalists' and 'academic experts' have contributed. It seems like everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame, no matter who it may hurt. from Pensacola / FL by Rick

Comment: Keith...your point is well taken. 10-20 years from now, some of these same people that are talking about media over exageration will be the same ones wondering why their skin is falling off. It is a dog-gone shame, why some people can't see the forest because of the trees. from Navarre Fl by HB

Comment: The media did exaggerate the spills effect, especially in the begining. They were reporting possible oil on the beaches in the Panhandle area for almost a month before any even got here while they were showing photos of what was happening in Louisianna. This scared off many would be tourist from areas that depend on the news to make thier decisions on weather to continue with vacation plans or not. The media would ask people on the beach to shovel sand so they could film them and tell the public these people were collecting tar balls when the tar balls were not even documented to be here yet. The media must be required to have accuracy in their reporting. from Pensacola, Fl by Paul

Comment: I beleive the media did some damage to tourism here. yes we had alittle oil, yes media should've kept their mouth shout. freedom of speech is being carried away here. now they need to get visitors back. from pensacola,fl by geralynn

Comment: am actually a pensacola native. the way the media has portrayed this crisis is unbelieveable. while the need to protect our shores, you would think the world was coming to an end. fisherman have lost their livelyhood. the other businesses complaining are all wanting free money. the tourists are as many this year as before but it's not all the oil crisis, it has to do with the economy. too many people are out of work and can't afford to drop several thousand dollars on a vacation. get back to basics and report the news. don't dramatize every single thing that goes on. get to the truth! from albany, ga by patsy

Comment: I went to the beach yesterday and at the waters edge their were hundreds of pieces of oil from the size of a quarter to as big as a piece of charcoal. Spoke to a few "clean-up" workers and they said they were not permitted to go near the waters edge. Spoke with an EPA officer and he stated "the workers are not competent to go near the waters edge"..."where the oil is"! How is this clean-up going to be successful? from Fort Walton Beach by Nelson

Comment: It is obvious that the media is primarily responsible for the loss of tourism revenue for the entire Gulf Coast due to tabloid style reporting aimed at hooking viewers. While terrible, this event hardly qualifies as the huge scale natural disater it is spun to be. from Pensacola, FL by Michael