Covering the flood
Hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans/Gulf coast flooding disaster has been going on while I'm up to my eyes preparing for classes. But I've tried to drag myself away from preps from time to time and keep an eye on what's going on. And while the mainstream media are still focusing on the scale-of-tragedy angle--not surprising for the moment--there is some more critical and in-depth reporting starting to emerge fromm braver elements of the media (see, e.g., a Washington Post column on the planned downgrading or dismantling of FEMA and an Editor & Publisher piece, drawing on New Orleans Times-Picayune coverage, that focuses on the Army Corps of Engineers' charge that it's been starved of federal funds for flood defense.) I hope that before too much longer, and once things settle down, the press will do its job and we'll see more of this sort of critical reporting.
In the meantime, the online journals Slate and Salon are, as ever, providing interesting and engaging coverage of the tragedy and the issues behind the tragedy. One piece in particular I'm glad I found was by Slate's Jack Shafer. Titled "Lost in the Flood," it tackles the awkward issue of race and class that has largely been ignored by the US MSM--in particular, the stark point that most of the people we're seeing in dire straits in New Orleans are poor and black. This has bothered me because this point is achingly clear, at least in terms of the people we're seeing on TV, but no-one really draws attention to it. So even as the media focus relentlessly on the tragedy and of the people who are suffering--people who had very little and now have nothing--they rarely elaborate on the key contextual factor that most of the people trapped in New Orleans didn't get out because they had no personal transport or they were living "paycheck to paycheck" and couldn't afford to up and leave. Shafer draws an interesting conclusion, even drawing on a well-known disater movie from the late 1990s:
- When disaster strikes, Americans—especially journalists—like to pretend that no matter who gets hit, no matter what race, color, creed, or socioeconomic level they hail from, we're all in it together. This spirit informs the 1997 disaster flick Volcano, in which a "can't we all just get along" moment arrives at the film's end: Volcanic ash covers every face in the big crowd scene, and everybody realizes that we're all members of one united race.
But we aren't one united race, we aren't one united class, and Katrina didn't hit all folks equally. By failing to acknowledge upfront that black New Orleanians—and perhaps black Mississippians—suffered more from Katrina than whites, the TV talkers may escape potential accusations that they're racist. But by ignoring race and class, they boot the journalistic opportunity to bring attention to the disenfranchisement of a whole definable segment of the population. What I wouldn't pay to hear a Fox anchor ask, "Say, Bob, why are these African-Americans so poor to begin with?"
posted by hdougie at 8/31/2005 11:46:00 PM
7 Comments:
While watching a Dateline special on the effects of Katrina, I was suprised at how quickly the issue of race and class jumped out at me. I agree completely with the Shafer comments that were included in this post. Although we would like to think that a natural disaster is blind to race and economic status, Katrina is making it painfully obvious that certain people have an advantage over others. Dateline's cameras made this apparent when one of its journalists pointed out an affluent neighborhood that was completely destroyed. He seemed to focus on how tragic it was to see these beautiful, historic New Orleans mansions under eight feet of water. He then reassured viewers that "the residents of these houses evacuated the area days ago." This came in stark contrast to later camera shots of rundown houses with their African American inhabitants still perched on roofs or wading around in the water. I was shocked at the number of people still remaining in a major disaster area. I guess not everyone had the financial means to evacuate immediately. And it's truly sad that such a rich and powerful government is seemingless powerless to come to the aid of citizens that are clearly in need of some assistance.
It is true that the main focus of the aftermath of Katrina seems to be focused on poor African American citizens. It seems to me that every time I turned the tv on after the hurricane had past, that the only clips of footage were of African Americans looting stores and sitting on sidewalks and rooftops with all the posessions they gathered in preparation for Katrina. I wondered to myself, where are all the caucasians? As of last night, although I do not religiously watch the news, I have only seen three white people on the news that suffered from Katrina's fury and I'm not even sure if they were from Louisiana or Mississippi. Two of them were neighbors consoling each other due to their apartment complex being completely destroyed, and late last night while flipping through the channels, I caught a glimpse of a photo of a child in a diaper, crouched down playing by a mud puddle. The focus now should be finding food, water, and shelter for all of those who have lost their homes and loved ones, regardless of what color their skin is.
colleen keltz
One thing that I have noticed living without a television is how different perceptions of the issues surrounding Hurricane Katrina can be. Receiving most of my news from the ny times and bbc.com has helped me 'escape' from TV's constant visual bombarments of the tragedy. Actually reading the numbers of those evacuated and then comparing them to the number of beds and meals being sent makes one realize that there is no way true relief is in sight. Also, I like to get my news from bbc(news.bbc.co.uk) because I like to think it gives me a more well-rounded and unbias sense as to what is going truly happening with the relief efforts, pillaging, and overall damage. Reading this from the BBC: "The BBC's Matt Frei, in New Orleans, says conditions in the city's convention centre, where up to 20,000 more are stranded, are the most wretched he has seen anywhere, including crises in the Third World. " helped me realize how serious the conditions were and the rude awakening that we now have refugees.
Hopefully after this disaster, the US government will be not only more understanding of third world countries who struggle to support their citizens especially after natural disasters, but also know how to better help them in the future.
While viewing television news programs covering the issue of Hurricane Katrina, it is hard to ignore the fact that the vast majority of the sufferers depicted are poor, low class African American citizens. However, in reading articles the issue of race isn't brought up very frequently at all. Ultimately, I do not believe that the issue of race is entirely relevant in this matter. True, the financial standing of these individuals did play a factor in their ability to escape the tragedy, everyone living in the area, barring race, lost everything that they owned. The fact is, the individuals are humans, just like any of us and although we might not technically be "all in it together" we all feel for these individuals and are doing anything possible (i.e.: donating blood, money donations, and sending survival items) to help these individuals who are in need as we would hope would be done for us if we were ever in need. Tragedy can strike anyone whether poor/wealthy, black/Caucasian at any time.
I think that it is a very good point that the fact that most of these people in dire need are poor and black. However, something that we need to ask ourselves is how can this be mentioned without sounding racist? I know that to completely ignore that fact is turning our heads away from an obvious problem, but I defend the media's avoidence of this fact. If I were faced with the task of covering this disaster I would want to focus on the idea that we are all in this together, how else can you expect aid from those who are uneffected? If someone were to focus on the fact that these people in need are poor and black I would be afraid that the real problem would get lost in the political arguments that would ensue. There is no doubt that this flood has highlighted a problem with the lower class but it should not overshadow the problem at hand. This poverty problem should be addressed after the relief for the hurricane is given.
Laura Vasile
I definitely agree that at first the covering Katrina left much to be desired, and unfortunately I don’t feel it has improved all that much even still. It was difficult to bring myself to watch the incessant news coverage of “the disaster” which “really hit home,” as most anchors kept saying over and over. Yes, I’m really sure it hit right at home for those upper middle class white news anchors that were flown down “into the trenches,” as they so eagerly identified their locales. Also, after the first week, when President Bush went to visit the “heart of the destruction,” I wasn’t sure how much longer I could watch him walking around hang in hand with poor black women kissing their babies’ foreheads and mumbling something to the effect of “everything will be like it was before in no time” – basically don’t worry because you’ll be poor and alone and the government will forget about you in no time.
Colleen Bennett
Comn 160
"But by ignoring race and class, they boot the journalistic opportunity to bring attention to the disenfranchisement of a whole definable segment of the population"
I was horrified by what happened in regards to Hurricane Katrina. Chaos, Destruction, and a totally botched recovery effort, all in an American City. Regardless of who deserved the most blame (city, state or federal government), it was an event that we as Americans expect not to happen on our own soil. We expect natural disasters to hit us, but we also expect help to get to our greif stricken citizens immediately.
Now I am writing this response some four or five months Katrina struck, so I realize I have the benefit of hindsight. In the days after Katrina, I believe our journalists covered the story, CORRECTLY. I am not oblivious to the racial divide in this country. I am not oblivious to the fact that white's often have the advantage, if for no other reason than their socio-economic status. But I firmly believe the aftermath of Katrina was NOT the time to trumpet societal change in this country. We were dealing with a crisis. People were sleeping on rooftops, dying of dehydration. Water was still pouring into a city. Thousands of dedicated people, from this country and all over the world, were attempting to save lives: that wasn't the time for journalists to "bring attention to the disenfranchisement....of a population". It was the correct time, in the immediate aftermath of that hurricane, for journalists to report on what was really going on. If I was watching coverage of the hurricane, as water was still pouring into the city, I would want to know about conditions on the ground, more so than who gets the bad end of the stick in this country. What was important was getting information to the public, not squabbling about race. Whoever wrote that theme into Volcano WAS right: when a disaster hits, we are all Americans. It is time to be unified, not divided.
BUT - that is all for the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Now that the storm has cleared and the city is starting it's rebuilding process, the time has come for those questions to be asked. Why were black people the race most affected by the storm? What is going on in this country, and in that state, that makes it so that blacks don't have the financial resources to leave town? Did someone intentially to a better job of informing the middle and high class what was coming their way?
These are questions that need to be answered immediately. These are questions that I suspect will confirm what a lot of people already know: being American is different in the middle class than it is in the lower class. But journalists, you did a good job in the days immediately following Katrina. You gave me the facts on the ground, and you gave me the situation. And your doing a good job today: you are reporting to me what is wrong with this country.
Joe Mignano
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