This is nothing new, the majority of the world population believe what the want to believe or what has been dictated to them. Some even believe what they don't want to believe as in they will always believe the worst case scenario.
The amount of people that believe what the evidence dictates or what has by far the highest probability of being true doesn't seem as high as you would hope.
Of course this only relates to something that allows for an alternate view; space, the past and anything where a clear cut answer is not possible. Applying it in this situation with an actual hurricane and real locations seems a bit ridiculous. It's quite possible news sources might overplay the danger of the hurricane if they are unsure of the level of its destruction. This will save the maximum lives surely and hardly a conspiracy. If there is estimated range of possible power of the tornado going with the higher level for news reports seems a pretty good idea.
One thing I never understand is the naming of Tornado's etc. Some are so friendly sounding like 'Harvey' when surely it should be something like 'Death from above', 'Cobra Strike', 'Praying Mantis' and other non friendly names.
