Media Coverage
Literally on television right now in Memphis:
CBS - Big Brother 6
NBC - Tommy Lee Goes To College
FOX - House
ABC - According to Jim
These are the same networks that were airing commercial free tsunami coverage for days during that tragedy. What the fuck?!?! People need to be informed about this situation. This is quite possibly the worst disaster to ever occur in the history of this country, maybe not in terms of loss of life, but easily in terms of economic impact.
Just to drill it in, nobody is talking about death tolls right now but they are certain to be in the THOUSANDS. Nobody has even begun to consider it because they are still rescuing people, not recovering. It’s bad, people. Get Tommy Lee off the fucking television.
At least they’re not still talking about those goddamned dolphins.
Related posts:
The television coverage has been deplorable. I am in Pennsylvania and I have gotten all the reports from the NO TV stations and http://www.nola.com
Prayers going out to all affected.
I’m shocked at the lack of TV coverage. I’m in Iowa. We know the devestations of flooding all too much.
I’ve skipped even the cable news networks and gone straight to the stream of WWL. That’s where cable is getting all their information anyway.
Are we going to have a telethon like we did for 9/11?? All those amazing NOLA musicians are now out of work, lets get them on tv, or on the road for a benefit tour.
if I was only a record promoter…
Couldn’t agree more. This is undeniably one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit the continental U.S. in ALL ways: humanitarian, economic, ecological, etc. TV is sickening. In fact, with the exception of one guy on Fox, Shepard Smith I think, I’ve felt that most of the coverage has been perfunctory, exploitative, dumb, irritating and most of all just plain lacking. Only the overhead visuals we’re finally beginning to get are conveying an even basic sense of how truly horrific (and immense) this tragedy is.
Grrr.
(I am glad the dolphins are okay, though. I admit it.)
It’s been two full days. Why haven’t the US airforce and army with thier helicopters responded with food drops, water and rescues? I have seen our government respond quicker for overseas catastrophes. Don’t we care about our own people? Yes, there are some bad guys doing looting but if you really look, most of the people are stealing food and diapers! What gives? Because its a majority black city? There are places in the Quarter and on off St. Charles that are not under water. We can’t drop food and water in the dry areas? Come on!! What negligence!
the’re sending out navy ships with supplies and will arrive in the morning…i read that on many different news sites…i think like 15 of them or so….with water and food….the neccessities
Here in Michigan, gas just hit $3.15 per gallon. Didn’t know why, but then I found a pretty scary story on gas stock, gas prices and rationing to stations…I just posted it up on my blog. It also has links to real-time pricing for MS, AL, and LA. Here’s the permalink:
http://raywert.blogspot.com/2005/08/gas-pricesno-gas-rationing.html
Am watching the happenings on CNN and Fox etc. The focus by these channels among other things is on looting. They are so pleased to show the scenes of looting and what the Govt is doing to control looting.
What the f$@% !!!!
This country is spending 100 billion $$ to fight a war in a distant land to ensure freedom and democracy there. And it cant evacuate half a million people from a city that is likely to be under water.
From Saturday night i have been watching the path of the hurricane. I was there in NewOrleans in ‘92. The I-I0 is not an evacuation route. It never was and now will never ever be.
Bloody hell, where were all those C130 jumbo frieghter jets !!!
Its replusive.
You are spot on. It’s weird that the rest of America can’t see this disaster in their midst. I tracked down this blog the day before Katrina hit and have been checking in and posting to my blog ever since.
Our prayers are with everyone in the region. And, even though I am an Iowan, I love NOLA; a great city with great style. Y’all will be back!
Bravo New Orleans
In a time of crises you show America and the rest of the World that you do not come together as a community, but you loot and cause more havoc.
You get what you deserve.
JW - Most of NOLA has been evacuated, so lets not tar with that brush too broadly. And not to excuse looting, but when the system collapses and the law of the jungle reigns, when the water and food start to run out and no help is coming, how well behaved would you be? I have more sympathy if the looting was out of desperation, rather than the scum who were doing it to make a quick buck from others’ misfortune.
JW, you are mega scum. I’ll bet you watch FOX TV.
Chris, you got it right about the media coverage. What the hell is wrong with them?
I remember growing up in Detroit during the race riots and National Guard troops rolling through the city in tanks and personnel carriers. Where are the tanks and personnel carriers in New Orleans? I heard that 6,000 National Guard troops that would normally be in New Orleans within 24 hours of a disaster are in Iraq. This is a hidden cost of that war — the loss of emergency response teams at home. From afar (Nashville), it is so debilitating to see the city “dodge a bullet” — that was never true, I know — and then get hit by the slow death of slowly rising water. The ultimate insult is that, instead of staunching the rise, the city decides to evacuate everyone left. Don’t they realize that it is usually citizen mobilization that clears most of the trees and patches most of the roofs and is reponsible for putting a city back together much faster than emergency response teams? Evacuating the city means evacuating a lot of the best labor available for repairs.
STEVE O’KEEFE
when u live in a flood zone or a hurricane beach area odds are you will get washed out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! move to the mountains
Hate to be a cynic, but:
When people are dying halfway around the world, everyone wants to watch.
When they start dying in your backyand, people just want to close the blinds and pretend it’s not happening.
Similarly, someone on Flickr pointed out two news photos - one showing black people “looting”, another showing white people “finding” (both were carrying salvaged food items).
People see what they want to see, and LA LA LA CAN’T HEAR YOU the rest…
Please know that there are plenty of us around the country who are just devastated by the loss of life and property in New Orleans and the rest of the South. Ever since I first visited NOLA five years ago, I’ve considered it my “home away from home.” We’re all pulling for you in SF!
fishing poles and televisions are not needed items wake up cyberslug dont support thugs
Steve - I don’t think tanks or PCs do a lot of good underwater, which is where they’d be if the NG tried to deploy them in NOLA right now.
It usually takes a day or so for federal recovery teams to reach any disaster area, so I’d hold off on bashing FEMA & Bush just yet. The problems right now seem to be a mix of the magnitude of the event & coordination problems at the local level.
JW,
In a time of great human tragedy you focus not
on the many many people suffering and the many
many people risking their lives to help.
Instead you choose to focus on the few and
not deal with the much larger reality. Its
likely you’ve already gotten what you deserve,
with more coming. Have a wonderful life
shooting at new orleans police station
more thugs
Fishing poles are not needed items-WTF? Here in the South we often fish for supper, and fish come in to feed in flooded areas. We had catfish the size of small dogs nosing around the auto lot during Floyd. My nephews were catching blackfish with their bare hands. Get some charcoal and a Hibachi and you’ve got supper.
Yes indeed! Network coverage has been hideous. Everything I’ve learned about this horrible situation in New Orleans has come from three sources. FOX News Channel, CNN, and the online stream from Hearst-Argyle’s WDSU in New Orleans and their sister station in Jackson, Mississippi. The latter pair’s wall to wall coverage has been nothing short of extrodinary in the face of such a catastrophic situation. As for network tv news coverage, well, if the NBC/ABC/CBS net execs are still wondering why they are getting obliterated in the nielsons….all they need to do is take a look in the mirror tomorrow morning. Maybe they should donate all those ad dollars from tonights primetime trash tv to the American Red Cross.
What Say You ABC/NBC/CBS?
Travis
Oroville, California
The local talk-radio stations are running disaster coverage with answers to how to help: donate time or money to the Red Cross, send your teddy bears (call was on behalf of a little girl) ro the Boys & Girls Clubs, stay on the line and we’ll take the phone # if you’ll share your house, etc.
They’re also taking calls from people who need help and getting news from affiliates in the affected areas.
I got so involved I got on the computer and donated money. I’ll be no more broke for it, and at least I have my family safe and a roof over my head.
The station I’ve been listening to mostly is WOAI in San Antonio.
We have a local station here in LA (KCAL) that does news during the prime time hours. About 95% of the time has been focused the Gulf region.
Having grown up in Baton Rouge until I was 8, there is always a piece of my heart in Louisiana. Watching those images is absolutely heartwrenching. My heart goes out to all y’all.
The death toll is going to be dramatic. I can’t say a number because I heard it directly from an EMS sent to New Orleans, and that’s their deal to disclose, but we’ll be lucky if it’s not as bad as the Tsunami.
My thoughts & prayers are with you all. New Orleans is my home away from home, and my heart breaks to hear about your suffering. My condo is at the corner of Bienville & Burgundy. If anyone can update me, it would be appreciated but…if not…it is completely understandable. Just know that you are loved so very much!
Granted there is a lack of coverage… but I don’t remember commercial free coverage on any of those stations in Memphis during the tsunami.
Since they’re having looting problems at the Hospitals, do they have a protocol in place to secure the nuclear medicine stuff? I’m not worried about a bunch of druggies wandering off with oxycontin,but I am worried about someone getting the materials to build a dirty bomb. I know, call me paranoid….
first of all i just want to say that at this point i have literally been up for three days because i cant take my eyes off of the tv and computer. why i dont know but i think its because im still looking for that needle in a haystack miracle announcing that everyhting is ok. having watched so much tv and every news station available im sick of hearing “why didnt they leave” who cares at this point does it really matter the reality is that they didnt and now they are suffering like they live in a third world country with no apperant hope in sight lets focus on how to help something that we can actually do something about. they keep rolling this footage of a “looter” an elderly women carrying a five dollar 24 roll package of toilet paper!!! for christs sake the women has no home no water no food no connection to the outside world and is surrounded by 6 feet of water BUT SHE IS DEFINATELY A IMMORAL MEMBER OF OUR SOCIETY for having the audacity to at least want the small comfort of having something to wipe her but with come on people. Alot of those people were just to poor to leave and as far as im concerned they city officals failed them in not offering solutions to get them out. im sure there are school buses who could of carried some of them out there were semi trucks that could of held tons of people to get them out. tourist were trapped because airlines didnt want to fly in empty airplanes to fly full ones out so they cancled all of the flights out. this decision im sure was based on economy rather than humanity and as citizens we should demand some answers on there callous decisions. and my last complaint the government where is all this high tech equipment that we are always hearing so much about we have the capibility’s to drop a bomb on an intended target with out any collateral damage but we cant drop some bottled water and food to dehydrated and starving people we have hovercraft that can deliver tanks to beaches but apperantely not food pallets to flooded streets this is day four and the citizens of new orleans have yet to see any relief and find that appalling and want answers from my government. now that I have vented I would like to offer all of my hopes and prayers to the people of the gulf coast you must truly be strong and resillant people for i dont think that i would have the strenght to hold up to all that you have endured. on a lighter not in the desert of arizona there isnt any water for miles to be seen after looking at all that water you all are more than welcome come out here it might be a nice change. good luck and godspeed
I’m so sorry, you all. I’ve always loved New Orleans and its inhabitants. Posts like jw’s aren’t worth a response. None of us knows for sure how we would behave having lost everything (and in some cases everyone). I’m up in NC, and the TV coverage has been similarly NOT- the only explanation I can think of is that if they showed/told us what was really happening, there would be a ginormous caravan of people trying to help in the way of the people who know what they’re doing. Plus hysteria.
But I dunno- things go on like they are, I might fill the car with towels and instant coffee and come on down.
Hang in there- we’re on your side, even if you stole a fishing pole.
Memphis government and visitor’s and convention bureau are holding a meeting this morning (Wed.) to coordinate long-term relief for the refuggees here - schools, housing, food, etc. The disaster has been all over the print media and nothing else is on anyone’s mind that I know. There’s a large Louisiana ex-pat community up here - we all talk of “going home” someday - and we are ready to be mobilized to help. Memphis feels a unique connection to New Orleans and I know its people will do everything they can to help, with or without media coverage. Go to http://commercialappeal/ for the local paper or http://memphisflyer.com/ the local independent weekly.
A very unfortunate truth is the role of disaster as entertainment. Like everything else, scale, immediacy and draw viewers. Draw the comparisons with Romans and the circus, but this is what we have become. 9/11 and the Tsumani were terrible, but easily consumed stories of strife that could distract people briefly, then allow them to return to their lives of mindless consumption. Failure, tragedy and terror that unfold slowly (the war in Iraq, famine and AIDS in Africa, that most pedestrian of disasters, a slow flood) do not fit this model. A major American city is possibly being wiped off the map, but no one know what to say, or do. Unfortunately, I do not think the lack of leadership stops at the mayor.
There are alot of people on this blog criticizing who have obviously never been to NOLA. Did you not see the footage (on Fox) of Red Cross Trucks under water in parking lots? If you have been to NOLA and did anything other than drink you would understand the magnitude of what has happened. NOLA is scary during a heavy rain when the canals rise, let alone this! The issue they have is not directly from the hurricane but an breakdown in infrastructure. Who could have predicted that? I lived there during a hurricane in ‘89 our neighborhood flooded because of a malfunction in the pumps. The infrastructure is old (over 300 years) and has needed attention for years!
By the way why does someone need 12 boxes of nikes during a hurricane?
Oh and where is Hollywood right now? Haven’t seen a thing from them!!
re the cynicism (of wh i’ve been guilty) — disasters have been disappointing entertainment for quite some time now… how’re you ever gonna top 911? (studio-grade camera wh just happens tb pointed at the sky as the 2nd plane hits, etc.) i wonder if the tv is suffering a hurricane glut… there have been too many storms wh fail to live up to the hype.
and then there’s the fema overkill in last season’s pre-election florida — engenders envy if nothing else in the dead milltowns of new england.
for me this blog (such a long strange trip of a read) dispels television’s lapse into meaninglessness.
New Orleanean in New York. People here don’t seem to care that much… they talk of oil prices. My childhood house is probably destroyed. My sister is missing. friends are missing. We’ve lost everything.
New Orleans is the most beautiful city in America. It’s not just a place to get drunk and puke. People live there. Its survived on the nations repression; they come there to let loose. So they woke up, left their money on the table and disappeared into the night. That’s what it feels like. I can’t believe people are talking the way they are. It’s surreal.
Guys, it may not be much of a help, but you’re having the coverage over here in germany and our thoughts are with you in this disaster.
neworleans.metblogs.com was even shown on Tagesthemen (germans no.1 news broadcast), see also http://berlin.metblogs.com/archives/2005/08/new_orleans_met_1.phtml
In all this tragedy, let’s not forget that pollution and climate change is not local, but global. We may all face such disasters when we do not change the way we treat the planet we live on.
I think it’s time to start e-mailing networks and let them know about the lack of coverage and how everybody feels about !!!!!
first my prayers go out to all the people who lost someone in this tragedy.its sad to say but this realy shows the world what the BLACK community means to america,nothing at all! as in the rodney king case we see in the eyes of news,police,goverment and white america in general we are second class,even in the wake of incredible hardship and suffering the people of N.O.(mostly black that is) have put up with over the last couple of days,the fear,the loss of life and everything they own,faced with all this humanity and sorrow,every news outlet made it a point to portray this people as lawless looters and lazy thieves.these people that have spent the last two days and nights in pitch blackness with no water food or power and no way to contact help.i find it apalling to see police gaurding an all ready flooded out store when there are people out there traped and dieing its embarresing and sickening.is this the type of freedom bush is trying to bring to iraq,we should not have to watch our america childran and babys suffer and die on tv in 95 degree heat with no help in site no matter what color they are and to be repeatedly called looters criminals makes me ashamed to be american.were are all the caravans of volenters and support that we saw on 9/11 the over wellming out pour of support and concern arant we still american,is it because all of the footage out of N.O are of black people suffering is that the reason ,i guess they figure we as a people are tough enough,we can take it,i dont know,i hope so.
I am disgusted by America once again. Truth is they made a huge mistake in the attempt to gain sympathy for NO. They put way to many “African” faces on the tradgedy. If you want america to ignore a disaster the put a black face on it. The media is out of control. They went to the black areas and camped out just so they could get the customary “Blacks Looting” angle. I remember the LA riots after Rodney KIng. I stood at the corner of Sunset and Vine watching White people looting an appliance store. I was the only black face in site. Of course a police cruiser focused on me. This coverage is as stupid and lame as America’s sense of self. I am sure that there are some white people or hispanics in need. Or maybe they were able to get out before it happens. Hey NO …. if you want more sympathy get the media to put more white faces on the news.
Good luck and prayers to all from New Jersey.
This is not a black/white thing. Trying to make it one is bad for everyone. A thief is a thief.
When I hear that folks are angry because the “disadvantaged” were left behind or are not getting help, I want to tell someone this: You are disadvantaged (thereby suffering the consequences of your condition) because of personal choices you’ve made. And yes, your children suffer from those choices as well. The world is NOT responsible for you. You are responsible for yourself. Live on a volcano, fault-line, or flood prone place, be prepared to suffer the consequences of that choice and don’t whine to the rest of us that we owe you. Nobody owes anyone anything. Drop out of school, chose to party up instead of working steady - be prepared to suffer the consequences. Those are your choices, your actions, not mine. I visited N.O. once some years back. It was dangerous to walk the street even then - I was told so by the police to stay on certain paths. I was told the same in in Los Angeles and in New York City when I lived or visited those places. The danger it seems came from people who most likely considered themselves “disadvantaged”.. Bull. A thief is a thief, a murderer a murderer. Being black, blue, green, whatever, does NOT excuse it. Thieves and murderers should be shot on sight in a colorblind fashion. There is no excuse - even a natural disaster. None.
Having vented that - The president of this country and his yes-men/women have placed us ALL in a very precarious situation. 200 Billion for Iraq? For what? Let’s be real (this is a good time for that I think) We need those resources and that manpower here and now. What’s gonna happen if we have an earthquake now in Southern California, another 9/11, another hurricane? We’re overextended and we have a bunch of idiots in charge in Washington that just DON’T GET IT. As far as FOX news (worst of the worst of sensationalism)…. or just about any tee vee news: How can you go from reporting (however badly) a catastrophy like this to a commercial for (insert crap) or some stupid-assed sitcom? We in this country need to get a grip on where we are, how we got there, and where we’re going. I could care less about the mid-east. I like my car, of course, but don’t want people dieing so that I can drive it cheaply. I feel for all of those suffering in the south right now. I intend to send money. However, I would much rather that my tax dollars were headed there instead of to rebuilding a country we had no business tearing down in the first place. Our president is an idiot surrounded by yes-people and back-slappers. AIRDROP SOME DAMN WATER AND FOOD TO THOSE PEOPLE. (Berlin Airlift?) RESTORE LAW and ORDER. If someone loses (bunches have) their life because leadership doesn’t know what to do, then we need new leadership. This will turn out to be Bush’s Waterloo. He’s NOT a president I believe in. I can’t believe someone actually elected him.
And just how do discern a “thief” from a hungry person with limited means of access. But you are right. I saw a picture of a little baby sleeping in the hot sun on a bridge cut off on both sides and ends. My first thought was … you know little baby … you wouldn’t be in this predicament if you had made “better” choices. Mississippi … New Orleans … pull your head out and smell the real pollution. Majority black population areas? It is a Black white thing? How’s Florida doing by the way???
Ray, first of all, you are a bitch. Being disadvantaged is not always a choice, and not always a result of bad decisions. Every once in a while, people are born into situations where life is a constant struggle to survive, and no matter how hard you try, if never given the right education and training, success is futile. And second, I don’t believe you have an ounce of feeling for any southerners suffering. As a former resident of a gulf coast state, go to hell.
Beth, Sit on it. You don’t know what situation I was raised in. First off… there are schools. You go there to learn. The are religions, you find one to follow. Get high or not get high. Steal or don’t steal. Hurt or don’t hurt. Choices. Sure, not everyone has everything given to them. But we live in a country where you can ACTUALLY WORK YOURSELF OUT OF POVERTY. What a concept.
So - since there are so many “born into situations where life is a constant struggle to survive, and no matter how hard you try, if never given the right education and training, success is futile.” What do you suggest we do to help them? Pay their way? Excuse their violence, thievery, etc.
Not me Beth. I believe (bitch that I am) that we should hold people accountable for thier actions and that our lives/destinys are self-determined. That, we have more control than you seem to think we have. Maybe you’re right… maybe when someone kicks in my door to rob and/or kill me and my wife and children that I should forgive them and/or just let them have their way (after asking them about their “disadvantaged” background). I’m a bitch.. right.. well you’re stupid and blind to the realities around you.
i saw a note here saying that hateful comments wb deleted, i thought oh no, i’m a goner. but i guess i’m a small potato. others are expressing hateful or easily misunderstood thoughts, i wonder if it’s a process, to dehumanize people when you know only the slightest thing, then to gradually comprehend the meaning of a disaster.
in a sense that’s been what the televised media have done… npr radio understood the human dimension quite early; tv news fell all over itself trying to trivialize the whole thing. now, however, cnn, cnbc, msnbc, et al appear tb discovering sorrow. they don’t seem as clueless, they’re even displaying a little guts every so often.
the looting/lawlessness story is not imaginary. anyone who’s seen a city go through riots knows that it’s the most incidious sort of disaster there is… some towns never ever do recover (eg, detroit, newark, new haven, perhaps la.) i think the media is right to cover it, black faces or no… if there’s tb any sort of positive consequence to katrina, the news has got to do its best to tell the truth (as it failed to do for the invasion of iraq.)
OMG Most of you people are Missing the Whole issue here ,, the news is right there with these people ,,, going on Day 4 ,, with no water , food ,, anything and we Can’t find a way to Drop food and water to them ???? How can this be ??? ,,the News coverage can get there @!!!
People ,, Come on 4 days with no food , water ,,, anything out in tyhe sun and water ,, you thing they Have a Pounding going on in thier head ,,, Have you ever gone 24 hours with no food or water ( like when you get the Flu) Imagine 4 Days in the sun,, you think you would Think in a Rational way ,,,esp with no sign of help,,, a way to saftey ,,, Where is all the Help that that we Send everyplace else !!!!
this is Our HOME ,,,, Lets Get some People in Washington to Remember where We are ,,,
thats all had to say my say
I have no problems with the truth. I would just prefer the “WHOLE” truth. As I said … I saw Los Angeles first hand. The news reports did not even reflect a small portion of the truth. Until you have walked a mile in my shoes do not tell me about the roads that I have traveled.
How inhumane we have become!!! Here we have fellow citizens, fellow human beings, fellow Americans with no food, no water, living in filthy conditions…..and we want to debate whose fault it is!!!! I’ve lived in New Orleans and I can tell you that many (of course not all)of those who did not evacuate, did not do it to be arrogant, spiteful, or stupid. Having done home health PT I can tell you with certainty that MANY of those folks had no means to escape the city. THe populace of New Orleans is NOT a city of drunkards and party goers -that distinction belongs to those visitors to Bourbon Street who act like animals away from their own homes. I think the US’s response to this disaster is a DISGRACE!!!!!We have the uncanny ability to tell the rest of the world how to behave and what to do, and then we can’t take care of our citizens in their time of utter disaster. I hope people remember this during the next election. It could have been YOUR city!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TV coverage on MSNBC has been pretty much 24/7.
I am in Pa. and we are ready to help anytime.
The grocery store I work at has already pledged $100,000 and we are taking collections at registers where customers are donating as much as $100 each. We are with you in spirit and will be here for you.
This whole “blame it on the victim” thing is disgusting. Many of the old, sick, and poor could not make it out of New Orleans in time. The city administrators told them to go to shelters such as the Dome and the Convention Center. And now people have the nerve to ask, “Why didn’t they leave?”
As for the news reports of lawlessness, let’s be real, the only news reels I’ve seen of looting were from the first day. The people in the shelters have been calm. I hate the fact that the media focused on a few ignorant black folks and keep repeating the footage, and now make the rest of the law-abiding NOLA citizens (99.9 percent look bad). Shame on the media. I truly believe the reported crime has been embellished. This is a national tragedy and a shame!!!
I live in Toronto and tuned in to Buffalo 11pm news, where viewers were informed that 1500 people (not the 25000+ that i heard elsewhere today) are trapped at the stadium and saw some very brief footage. Then the story cut to 1. a local who is willing to share his home with displaced people and 2. a local Buffalo government HR worker who is concerned about a friend of a friend who cannot be reached. And that was it.
Not to give the USA a blanket dis, because there are some really fantastic things about USA, but i noticed a similar phenomena in Arizona in July and the bombings happened in London: the local news barely touched the issue and CNN was the next best thing, but I simply cannot watch CNN for the total lack of analysis and vocabulary that goes with any story - albeit there may not be instant analysis at hand until details unfold.
It has been noted above that people would rather not pay attention to disaster in the backyard, but why? While in AZ i found it absolutely impossible to get my hands on a newspaper, like the New York Times, that seeks to explore the multiple causes of any particular event, if it deigns to cover the event at all. It seems that the local media fails in its coverage because no one wants to know. Not to say there are not people in all wealthy nations who choose not to be informed - Canada is full of them - but not to the pandemic scale as I notice in the USA.
Could it have something to do with the strain of individualism that permeates the American psyche? On one hand, there were no racialized images on the Buffalo news this evening (e.g. young black men looting) as i have seen all over the Cdn national news / BBC online clips, which sends a very strong nonverbal message about who can be accused of being a major source of the chaos in NO. However, the media totally fails to inform us why there are so many black families stranded at the stadium - because they are poor and did not have the resources to leave the city. this points back to a recurring theme in these posts, that individuals bear the onus of maintaining their own safety and well being in the USA, a very strong individualism that is assumed to apply to all equally. Where this breaks down is when we realize that the starting point is not equal - while i can agree that self-betterment starts with one’s self, how can this be fairly applied to all when the very basics - an education, a job, a home, daycare for kids so women can go to work etc - are not available to everyone? It seems that nation states that are concerned with enabling such universal basics for everyone fare better in that they are less crime-ridden and, well, received with less hostility than
Hey All,
Im a journalist currently stationed in Baghdad watching this all from a far. I just wanted to comment on the idea that the media is sensationalizing the looting going on in NO;
This is what news organizations do. We report the extrodinary. Obivously the state of the city and dire need of its citizens are the main concern. But it is the events, that go above and beyond what people expect, what we would all rationalize, is what makes it into the news. What horrifies people, is what is reported on. Unfortunatley if it bleeds, it leeds. Im not condoning this, but that is how news works. No one reports on the blaze and mudane, because it is exactly that.
And Im not saying that the rescue operations are blaze, not at all - but the looting and shootings and raping - in spite of the natural disaster stand out.
I reported from Indonesia in Banda Ache after the tsunami earlier in the year, and none of the people there dishonored those who were lost and dead to sink to such a level of anarchy. And to tell you the truth the citizens of Bande Ache are extremely poor, more so than the standards even in NO, and have been in the center of an all out war between government forces and extremists for years.
So the fact that the media makes a big deal of the break down of order in our supposed free and civilized society is not only important, but justified!
Where is the value system that lets us do this?
And as for reports that may be in correct or doubtful - you have to remember that journalists are themselves going into this city risking their lives to get a story out. Sometimes you dont get it right. I have to sit in this fortified Baghdad office most of the time, and cant go out because of security. The only things I report on are bomb blasts - for the most part - horrible news.
The whole world is watching us - how we act. Lets try and mantain the dignity that supposedly makes us a great moral country.
BNL
Every picture’s worth a thousand words-
Great sequence of photos here
(But we could do without those Celine Dion shots)
How utterly sad this situation is!
I’m in Paris, France and I can tell you that CNN International is spending a LOT of time on Katrina and the aftermath. I sat there yesterday absolutely stunned by what I was seeing. They kept showing two elderly white women feebly patting their faces with tissues, one of whom manages to say she’s been there with no food or water for days. The crowd shots do show a majority of African-Americans but that’s only because that’s the sad reality of the situation. CNN didn’t plant those people there. So many of them clearly explain they simply had no means to get out of town.
Then, as if seeing humanity abandoned and left to fend for themselves in the squalor isn
maybe it’s just me…. but i would like to see one news crew stand up and say “we are not coming to you from st louis… we have decided to let our news vans / hellicopters be used to help relief victims. we are passing up this new opertunity to be humanitarians. behind us you will find all of the rations and botteld water we have purchased for donation to the victims. we will be working all day to help rescue and noriush citizens.” and then end the news story with a telecast number people can call to make donations…. and run that story most of the day with updates showing people recieving the donations. there is a time to realize when it’s time for action and time for a good story and the time for a good story is not now.
all i seem to be seeing on the news are people whining about how they have lost everything. yes, it’s true that they have lost everything that they have worked for…. that is where being materialistic has it’s draw backs. you can’t take it with you when you go. i feel bad for them… don’t get me wrong. there comes a time when you have to accept your loss and then decide what would be the next course of action to make the situation better. looting 20 pairs of nike shoes is not trying to save your kids from starvation…. if you have to take milk and baby cereal and formula from the shelves of a broken grogery store to feed your kids….. then do the following: learn what a serving is… feed your kids only that serving and pass the rest along to the next parent to do the same. don’t hoard the food. no parent wants to see their child starve… or any child starve for that matter. you need a lot less to survive than what we consume on a daily basis. feed the children first… water the children first…. then the adults second. sorry if you are a 300 pound adult… you have a plenty on your body to keep you from starvation and you obviously don’t know what a portion size is. (i’m still working on my potion sizes so i’m not knocking fat people or heavy people…. but it’s the truth.) you have extra to substain you through a tough time before starvation will set in… and a child does not.
my best friend’s father made a comment that has rang very profoundly with me ” it’s times like these when you see what kind of a human you are”. this is all just my opinion… i’m just trying to make sense of the mess after the storm.
I HAVE BEEN WATCHING THE NEWS SINCE THE HURRICANE HIT AND THE ONLY SURROUNDING STATE SO FAR THAT HAS WANTED TO HELP IS TEXAS THEY OFFERED TO PUT UP THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHERE ARE THE OTHER STATES AND SURROUNDING STATES AT? WE ARE A COUNTRY.CANT THE SURROUNDING STATE THAT HAVE NATIONAL PARKS PUT SOME PEOPLE UP IN CABINS AND GIVE THEM TENTS IT WOULD BE OF SOME COMFORT FOR SOME OF THEM TO COOK MEALS AND TAKE SHOWERS.MAINLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND ELDERS MY PRAYERS ARE WITH U ALL
HOW ABOUT THIS ONE!!!!!!!!!
Loudoun relief crew turned away
By: Shannon Sollinger
09/02/2005
Loudoun Sheriff’s deputies and emergency personnel were on their way to hurricane-stricken Louisiana Thursday night but had to turn around when the federal government failed to come up with the required paperwork.
Sheriff Steve Simpson and his staff spent 12 hours trying to get the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the State of Louisiana Emergency Operations Center to act act. They didn’t, and the 20 deputies and six emergency medical technicians - all volunteers — turned around and came back to Loudoun.
The deputies’ experience brings to our doorsteps a glaring illustration of the chaos in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. But it does not dampen the deputies’ willingness to assist: They may try again next week.
The deputies packed up to head south after a request from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department. The department serves an area around New Orleans.
Deputies left Leesburg at 9 p.m. Thursday. They reached Harrisonburg at midnight and were told that neither FEMA nor the Louisiana was willing to act on the request from Jefferson Parish.
The deputies were to have been sworn in as local law enforcement officers and would have worked with teams in some of the most devastated areas. The relief team had gathered enough supplies to be self-sufficient for up to 14 days.
No doubt about it this is a terrible tradedy, Not only for New Orleans and all of the Gulf area, but for our nation. And there is much we need to learn from this. But let us be careful with the blame. There is lots to go around, all the way from local to the top. We can sort that out later, but for now we need to pull together. The test of a GREAT PEOPLE AND A GREAT NATION IS HOW WE RESPOND.
There is ABSOLUTELY NO excuse for the looting, and anarchy. No ones mother taught them:
“It’s okay child, if you’re poor to go out and steal from your neighbor.” That seems to be the message I’m hearing here. I’m not talking about food and water. I’m talking about the muraudering rabble stealing Plasma TV’s and refrigerators!
My husband and I were born in New Orleans. We also lived in Bay St. Louis for 7 years. Our hearts go out to all who have lost so much. They will be remembered. Thanks to the individuals and communities that pulled our people through this tragedy. There is a song in my heart, but no melody. Words cry out from my soul for the victims and heroes as listed below:
WHERE ARE YOU NOW?
You gathered up your strength upon a raging sea.
From the sky above you are beautiful
And portray a look of peace and serenity.
But with fury like a woman
personally i would like to talk about the media, yes the coverage has been disgusting but what about how they’re a covering it, for example black americans in new orleans are shown as the criminals the ones who are looting and comitting crime and how the police arests them violently while u see the white americans finding food and taking only what they need and that everything they do is for the survival of their family, to me thats quite bullshit because once again the media is taking an advantage of this situation to pose us the “dangerous savage personality” which whites have given blacks since ever coming to america, personally i think the media should be more careful about what they put on tv because in obvios ways it promotes racial discrimintation
oh and also justin case u’s are wondering im white and i think the media is treating the new orleans black americans extremely unjustly