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

[Commentary] When Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico last fall, President Donald Trump playfully lobbed rolls of paper towels to those taking shelter. What if the reporting on the ground had been taken seriously — as something to be heeded, and reacted to, instead of summarily dismissed? What if the president had pushed for help from wherever it could be found, including from outside the overstressed federal agency? 

Reporting exists for a reason. It can provide direct observation, seek out critical information, amplify the words of credible public officials. The FEMA report talks about the dire results of their own lack of “situational awareness.” The early media reporting in Puerto Rico should have served as a crucial alert. But it was branded fake. Worse than being ignored, it was kissed off as wrong. That was dangerous, and probably deadly. The FEMA report — though its details are stunning — tells us largely what we already knew: that the federal response to Maria was sorely lacking. And it will take more than a few rolls of blithely lobbed paper towels to clean up the results.

[Margaret Sullivan was previously the New York Times public editor].