Fingerpointing: The Media Role in the Slow Response to Katrina Aftermath

Parent Cafe
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<p>Stay with me while I wind my way to this observation…</p>

<p>Some years ago, my youngest son was part of a diversity exercise gone bad. A hired consultant came in and said a whole lot of things he had no business saying. Then, in an invented version of the standard Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes exercise, he locked the blue eyed 11 year olds in the basement of the school without food or water for several hours after a round a false ‘testing’ ie; We’ve conducted tests and this group will not be successful at this school and they need to go to the basement now. My youngest was among them. Nevermind the fallout from that event, but a couple of things stayed with me.</p>

<p>One was the reaction of my son’s classmate, brown eyed Rachel. Rachel’s grandparents were holocaust survivors. As the blue-eyed children were led down the stairs to the darkened basement, she burst into tears and pleaded with the consultant and her teachers to let her go home or call her parents–even though she was upstairs eating cookies with the other brown eyed children.</p>

<p>She reacted violently because her parents taught her to revolt against injustice no matter what the circumstances. She did. She was as emotionally devastated as some of the children forced into the basement (my son weathered the ordeal without too much pain. Even if he hadn’t been blue eyed he would have been tossed in the basement. Apparently he gave the guy a ton of grief during the debriefing before the children were sent down. Still I was amazed he didn’t bolt out of there.). </p>

<p>Not to beat a dead point, but I think the initial treatment of the New Orleanians sent to the Superdome and the Convention Center was inhumane. There could be a more humane process, even for those left behind. Fingers crossed someone develops such a system. </p>

<p>It seems to me that the media was very slow to pick up the scale of the injustice. It was a local N’Awlins radio journalist, the Walter Cronkite of New Orleans, Garland Robinette (<a href=“New Orleans News, Talk, Sports Station - WWL-AMFM | WWL Radio”>New Orleans News, Talk, Sports Station - WWL-AMFM | WWL Radio; ) who ‘broke’ the aftermath story wide open on Day 4 when he aired a long emotional interview with an exhausted Mayor Nagin.</p>

<p>Shortly after, or simultaneously (?), CNN’s Anderson Cooper escalated his outrage and then the ball was rolling from coast to coast. On Day 5, CNN sent Nic Robertson, the CNN war correspondent. On Day 6, Christine Amanpour from CNN arrived. With that kind of media attention, the best and the brightest in the world can focus on the problems at hand.</p>

<p>Had the media noted the inhumane treatment and social makeup of those poor souls waiting to get INTO the Superdome, standing for hours in the rain, perhaps world and government help would have come much faster. Washingtonians rely on CNN et al as much as we do. </p>

<p>In this particular case, the media was slow to recognize a tragedy in the making. </p>

<p>So says me.</p>

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<p>I don’t think the media was slow at all. Shepard Smith on Fox began making impassioned pleas on behalf of the victims onTuesday afternoon.</p>

<p>By the end of the week, he was in a total rage over the lack of humanitarian aid for people stranded on overpasses and at the Convention Center.</p>

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<p>I really have to wonder what would have been the reaction by many - IF - the flooding had not occured - the circumstances would have been much different - tho the outcome for many would have been unchanged - media or no media</p>

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<p>The media was a lot quicker than the leaders, they had more information, more pictures, more stories, and the Media did bring up the people waiting in line, while Brown said, we had no idea…</p>

<p>If it wasn’t for the media, I can’t even imagine what the response would have been. While we were told it was “trying times” peoples worlds were distroyed. If we counted on the Adminstrations take on events, well…</p>

<p>Did you read where the German press had comments to make about the “food station” and stage photo shoots?</p>

<p>Where were the Fed during all this, there are only so many bodies in NO to help</p>

<p>And at least the mdia was paying attention. And now if finding memos, and reporting what was said to this administration who told us they had a handle on it…</p>

<p>not quite</p>

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<p>While the same media totally ignored Miss and the rest of LA. I guess they have limitations too.</p>

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<p>Didn’t see Fox. Fox doesn’t come on until the wee wee hours (socialist country, LOL). Are you saying that Fox was ignored? Or was the Katrina invective too similar to their daily invectives?</p>

<p>Saw ABC, CBS, CNN, BBC, SKY. Their reactions were fairly muted until Day 4. Things seemed to take a quantum leap after Nagin’s breakdown on WWL.</p>

<p>Saw a lot of Biloxi and Waveland. Not much of Mobile–or Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge must have doubled in population?</p>

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<p>Media folk generally speaking don’t mix much with poor Black folk.I’ll bet there was barely a reporter for any of the networks who’d ever seen New Orleans beyond the French Quarter, Convention Center, and Superdome. It just doesn’t happen much, because poverty is not a story. Houses underwater are hard to get to, and aren’t as photogenic as used-to-be-houses blown away (which are also easier to get to.)</p>

<p>But Martin Savidge (NBC) was fuming at the Convention Center on Tuesday. I think what finally brought all the attention was that “looters” make for good copy (never mind that most of them were filmed taking canned soup, diapers, and cranberry juice), and once they found out what was really going on, they couldn’t go back.</p>

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<p>These stories of what was going on was all over the web…the news was out there</p>

<p>I am glad that finally, questions are being asked about what this Administration has done to protect the Homeland. Very little here at home. This was a major port, a port that brought in much oil, etc. And he did nothing to protect it.</p>

<p>So much for Homeland Security.</p>

<p>And the press is showing the Administration knew about the problems with the levees for a long time, and say hey, we will take away money…</p>

<p>They can’t hide any longer, Brown lied to us, and the press got the truth out…more and more will the truth get out</p>

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<p>BBC notes Fox role, Interesteddad</p>

<p>From the BBC News today, Sept 5, UK:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Full article <a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4214516.stm[/url]”>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4214516.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I was watching one story of a black woman who was walking barefoot several miles to her relative’s house. The story ended with a shot of her walking away. It looked painful. I kept thinking, if it is only a few miles, why doesn’t the reporter give her a ride? My H says he is sure that they did, but I wonder . . . And the “looting.” I can’t understand why the media would refer to people taking food in a situation like that “looting.” The whole thing is incredibly heartbreaking, in every aspect.</p>

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<p>Shepard Smith is what made O’Reilly look like that sick piece of scum that he revealed himself to be.</p>

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<p>Perhaps some should stop calling them “Faux News.” Just a Michael Moorism–always was.</p>

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<p>Faux news fits so well though…I think I will keep it</p>

<p>You watch Fox, then you watch something else, and its OMG, who knew</p>

<p>Its just great though, that the press is asking some tough questions</p>

<p>And its going to be interesting how much more we see Brown now that he has bee outed as incompetent. We will see how much more he is in front of the press. So many verbal mistakes and mis-statements on the record…</p>

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<p>Shepard Smith was preaching a story of human despair and neglect all week from New Orleans. He “got it” on Tuesday standing on a highway overpass and seeing the authorities totally ignore helpless people. It may be because he is from Mississippi and understands the economic composition of the region. However, he also showed the same ability to cut to the human side of the story in his war reporting on Iraq.</p>

<p>Tonight, he was asked what he had learned in New Orleans, “I learned that we weren’t ready…”</p>

<p>He then went on to say that we as a society have to give the poor and disadvantaged citizens of a city a chance. A chance to evacuate. A chance to have food and water in a disaster. And that, while he had no idea how to apportion blame, the entire system failed the people of New Orleans and he watched it fail for five days.</p>

<p>BTW, Bill O’Reilly is a far more nuanced personality than you give him credit for. In his personal and public life, he is a strong advocate for the disenfranchised children of the poor in America. The lawlessness we saw in New Orleans also requires a more nuanced analysis. It is important to note that a great deal of the looting was being done by desperate people just trying to survive. However, there were also armed street gangs doing unspeakable things, for which there is no justification. I did not watch O’Reilly the night that made you so upset, but in every other segment I watched, he drew a clear distinction between looting for survival and criminal activities with other motivations. He specifically said that he had no problem whatsoever with people emptying stores of food and clothing in that environment.</p>

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<p>Who da thunk it? Here I am regretting I didn’t see a piece of Fox reporting?</p>

<p>The sky is falling!</p>

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<p>“I did not watch O’Reilly the night that made you so upset, but in every other segment I watched, he drew a clear distinction between looting for survival and criminal activities with other motivations. He specifically said that he had no problem whatsoever with people emptying stores of food and clothing in that environment.”</p>

<p>Well, you missed the most racist hour of television in the past three decades. As footage ran in the background of folks calmly walking into stores and taking food and juice and milk and diapers, O’Reilly ranted for almost an hour with his buddies about the need to shoot looters on sight. It went on and on - and was wholly unspeakable. Keith Obermann was so upset that he immediately spent three whole hours the next day debunking O’Reilly’s racist claptrap for what it was. It wasn’t nuanced in the least - but both Obermann and Smith exposed him for the scum he is. And I’m sure there was a blow-up at the station, because the next night he looked like he had his disgusting tale between his legs.</p>

<p>BUT - there was a good side! Looters make for good copy when poverty or dying people don’t. If it wasn’t for the “looters”, we might still be waiting for the National Guard to arrive.</p>

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<p>Yes there were no looters taking edible TVs and jewelry, no rapists, no shooters at emergency workers, no home invasions…In your dreamworld of ignoring what is plain as day. Anyone that was there reports seeing thugs doing all of the above and I am sure many more reports will come out of looted homes and worse.</p>

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<p>The LA TIMES has a great series of articles</p>

<p>My heart is broken</p>