(This story has been updated with comments from Nuno Hilton, who shot the photo of the tornado)
A social-media squabble between two Southwest Florida TV-news personalities over a supposedly “fake” tornado photo has made the national news.
The New York Post wrote about the online tiff in a July 14 news article after TV news-industry site FTVLive reported it the day before.
The New York Post described it as a “public spat over journalistic credibility as AI-generated images become increasingly common.” FTVLive called it “an absolute battle for the skies.”
Fort Myers resident Nuno Hilton — who shot that July 10 photo and provided the photo’s metadata verifying it’s real — has watched as his tornado image sparked an online fight and then made the national news.
“You know, it’s really sad that this is where we are in our day and age,” Hilton says, “that we don’t know what’s real and what’s fake. … It’s really scary.”
Gulf Coast News’ tornado photo called ‘fake’ by WINK meteorologist
It all started July 10 when Gulf Coast News anchor Peter Busch posted Hilton’s photo of a tornado touching down that afternoon in Cape Coral.
“BREAKING: A tornado touched down in Cape Coral this afternoon just after 4 o’clock,” Busch wrote on his Facebook page. “The person who sent me this picture was outside the Zoom Tan on Santa Barbara and Veterans Parkway. The National Weather Service says the exact location of the tornado was on or near Southwest 27th Street.”
Soon after that post, WINK News meteorologist Lauren Kreidler posted the same photo on her own Facebook page and described it as “NOT REAL,” according to a screenshot shared by the New York Post.
“This was sent into our WINK newsroom this evening,” Kreidler wrote, “and while we saw some nasty storms work through Southwest Florida, this is NOT a real photo. Hope y’all are drying out nicely!!”
News anchor Peter Busch fights back, defends tornado photo
Kreidler quickly deleted the post, but Busch fired back that night on his own Facebook page and defended the photo.
“The Cape Coral tornado picture that I posted earlier this evening has created quite a stir, with some people suggesting that it is an AI-generated image,” he wrote. “A meteorologist from another station even briefly posted on her page that it was fake, but then she deleted her post. In the interest of journalistic transparency, I’d like to explain to you how we determined that the photo is legitimate.”
According to Busch, the National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado had touched down after 4 p.m. that day near Southwest 27th Street in Cape Coral. “That lined up with the time and location of this photo,” he wrote. “We also ran the photo through an AI program, and it concluded that nothing in the image suggests it was manipulated.”
Busch added that it’s healthy to be skeptical of images in the AI age. “We will always do our best to make sure that what we’re showing you is the real deal.”
Neither TV news personality mentioned the other by name in their posts. Busch and Kreidler haven’t responded to emailed requests for comment from The News-Press/Naples Daily News, but we’ll update this story if they do.
FTVLive writer Scott Jones described Kreidler’s post as “a rookie mistake for the young meteorologist, who just learned a tough, public lesson in media etiquette.”
Shooting that tornado photo in Cape Coral
Hilton says he was driving with a friend when they saw the tornado in front of them in Cape Coral.
“I was just leaving work and the sky was dark…” he says. “The light had just turned red here at the corner as I was about to make a right going towards Aldi. … I’m trying to take a photo, and he’s whacking my arm for me to blow the red light. So I caught the photo in a moment, and that’s when, you know, the light started to turn.”
Hilton and his friend pulled into the Aldi parking lot and ran inside.
“The car was shaking…” he says. ” I don’t even know how I parked. … It was pretty wild.”
Hilton later saw the online spat that resulted from Busch’s Facebook post and then watched the photo go national in the New York Post.
He says he was upset by all the negative comments on Facebook — many from people falsely accusing him of faking the photo. And he blames that all on Kreidler’s “NOT REAL” post.
“She still owes me an apology,” Hilton says. “I think she should reach out, because I got a lot of messages of people saying that’s fake, it’s AI. And it’s just unfair to me. … It was upsetting.’
Charles Runnells covers arts and entertainment for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 or email crunnells@usatodayco.com. Follow or message him on Facebook (@charles.runnells.7), Instagram (@crunnells1) and X (@CharlesRunnells).
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: SW FL news rivals clash over ‘fake’ tornado photo, make national news
Reporting by Charles Runnells, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Fort Myers News-Press
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By Charles Runnells, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News | USA TODAY Network
