His racial comments 'kicked/whipped/stirred up a storm' in the newspapers. [=newspapers criticized his racial comments very strongly]
The college was quiet that morning, but it was 'the calm before the storm'. Thousands of students would arrive later.
Newspapers have 'weathered the storm' of online information by providing news online themselves.
(..) I'm going grocery shopping. You want some milk? One quart or two? It's two, right? I like these calm little moments before the storm. It reminds me of Beethoven. Can you hear it? It's like when you put your head to the grass... you can hear it growing. (..)1994 Léon: The Professional