(Thumbnail image: ABC News Australia)
BY MALLORY PERRYMAN
CNN: “Good evening again from New Oreans, five years since Katrina."
Fox News: “We mark five years since Hurricane Katrina roared ashore. The storm that changed the lives of people along the Gulf coast forever.”
NBC: “So we don’t forget what it was like when Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf coast five years ago.”
Flashbacks, stories of survival, and lingering frustration at a government many feel failed its people. The five year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina sent every major media outlet back to New Orleans.
It was a tragedy that defined some journalists. CNN’s Anderson Cooper was at the heart of Katrina coverage five years ago and he says it’s important for the media not to allow those responsible for the disaster to rewrite history. In his Katrina special, he calls out former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for recently filing paperwork to open a new business — one of his services? Disaster recovery advice and consulting.
Anderson Cooper: “Mayor Nagin failed to declare a mandatory disaster until 20 hours before the storm hit and failed to organize buses or bus drivers to evacuate the tens of thousands of people that the city knew did not have access to vehicles to leave.”
Another media staple of Katrina coverage, NBC’s Brian Williams, who actually stayed in the Superdome during the storm. Williams told his story on a Dateline special.
“My boss said I just got off a conference call with the National Weather Service and this is the Dooms Day scenario. This is going to hit New Orleans.”
Williams’ anniversary special was the highest rated of all Katrina coverage. The New York Times reports the hour-long show averaged 4.9 million viewers — the news magazine’s best performance among younger viewers since May.
On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow hosted her show from New Orleans. She focused on the closing of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, nicknamed Mr. GO, a canal directly responsible for channeling water into New Orleans when Katrina hit.
“But is Mr. Go being closed a sign that we are getting slightly less stupid about picking fights with God down here? ... The result of us waging war on the geography here, thinking we know better, keeping the river from building land like it wants to: the result is that New Orleans is 20 miles closer to the sea than when it was founded.”
Others joined Maddow in asking the unanswered questions. PBS, ProPublica, The Times-Picayune and Frontline teamed up for an exclusive investigation.
“In the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina ... people were shot and killed by the New Orleans Police Department.”
And on Fox News, a panel talked about the media’s relationship with Katrina. One panelist saying it was a tragedy that showed the nation the power of journalism.
“I think it was one of the proudest moments for the media in my lifetime. We dug into the investigative aspect of it. We expressed genuine and heartfelt and frankly rather real emotion. The challenge now is keeping focus. Five years is a long time to pay attention to something in the media.”
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