Sure, it looks funny that people are hanging out in boats when another guy is only ankle deep. This is one of the reasons that people distrust journalists, but there is an explanation. The "deep water" that requires a boat to cross is probably too difficult to set a camera in, so the boats were places in a shallower area for "illustration purposes." So, what do you think: is this staging an example of journalistic "cheating" or just another way to tell a story? The flood was a couple of years ago in New Jersey. -via Arbroath
Or they may be referring to how deep it was last night. Which is still misleading.
Or they may have been lying.
We know what a flood is. If you are shown in a boat, we'll assume there's no way for you to stand anywhere. If you show us images of a burning tank in Lybia filmed under 10 different angles, we're gonna assume a sh*tload of tanks are burning.
To me, all these "illustrative" inclusions in news reports are, if not lies, manipulations.
Oh also, stop asking everybody in the street their opinion on stuff they're clueless about.
What I find funnier is the thought of what the guy that walked up was thinking as he approached a bunch of yahoos in boats.