Hurricane Katrina and the media hype.

3

38splfan

New member
As we move deeper into the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we see a much more open and present "every man for himself" attitude in the survivors.
Wether they be looting, robbing, or shooting at LEO's, the message is very clear.
"This is no man's land, survive or die."

It seems that the media is the center of this survival of the fittest mentality. Much of the recent publicity has been on the plight of the city, the destruction, and the violence. It was media stories about police joining looters that has made the N.O. citenzenry wary of rescuers. It is the constant coverage of the survivor stories that gives the impression that no help is coming. It is also the media who have been the first to use the terms disorganized, anarchy, and lawlessness.
What the media has not done is cover the massive aid programs that are underway right now. From our own XavierBreath and his crew headed south, to the singers giving benifit concerts to raise money, no good has been widely publicized. We have three local radio stations doing fund raisers right now. how many knew that Steve McNair and Brett Favre put in together for a semi-trailer full of water and food to head for the Dome, where many of the refugees are? (source: ABC News as per 102.9 KMPS radio)
Rather than report any goodness or charity, the media has used this as yet another "Bush Bash" opportunity. Claiming that emergency efforts are lacking, budget constraints are limiting assistance, and the help is far from coming. All claims are made as if the President's own hand guides it all, and not the beauracratic red tape and foot dragging that is really to blame.

What do you think?
Is the media helping or hurting the relief effort?
Is it really the President's fault?
Have I had too much coffee?
 
Pain, suffering, and outrage are what sell for syndicated news. Anyone who wants goodness and mercy is presumed to be tuned to a religious channel rather than a news channel.

(Wow, I must really be tired for the cynicism to be so blatant.)
 
It seems that the media is the center of this survival of the fittest mentality. Much of the recent publicity has been on the plight of the city, the destruction, and the violence. It was media stories about police joining looters that has made the N.O. citenzenry wary of rescuers. It is the constant coverage of the survivor stories that gives the impression that no help is coming. It is also the media who have been the first to use the terms disorganized, anarchy, and lawlessness.
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correct me if i'm wrong, but the people in New Orleans aren't seeing this media coverage because they don't have any electricity. i'm sure words getting around, but i don't think the mass media constant coverage exists down there. i doubt there's any "media hype" because aside from the passing boat loaded with cnn cameras, there is no media. sure there's reporters every where, but the people can't see the reports. and if they could see the coverage on thier brand new stolen big screen tv, i doubt the looters are saying to themselves "the cops are looting too. they're taking stuff we could be taking. we should go shoot down that helicopter. that'll show them." i think it's just that they'll do whatever they want because there's going to be absolutely no paying for thier actions.
 
I have a sneaking suspicion that when it is all assessed it will not be as bleak as is being portrayed right now
 
Wow.

I have a sneaking suspicion that when it is all assessed it will not be as bleak as is being portrayed right now
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Wow, talk about hitting the nail on the head.
That is exactly what I was trying to convey in my long winded, caffeine induced diatribe :o

I know that most of the people in N.O. are without power, but I am sure there are at least a few radios and cell phones.
It just seems that the media has portrayed the end of the world without mentioning the few angels trying to save it.

"the cops are looting too. they're taking stuff we could be taking. we should go shoot down that helicopter. that'll show them."
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Not really what I meant, so I should probably clarify myself. It seems that the media reports of LEO's raiding the Wally World isles are planting a distrust of the uniform in people. Not in the looters or rioters, but in the ones camped out on roof tops who are relying on the uniform to come to their aid, not rob them. It's creating fear where there should be none. I have to beleive that even if it is true, it's a small percentage and not the lot of the LEO's doing the picking.

I really do feel badly for the people of N.O., and wish that I could help. (aside from donating canned goods, water, money, and blood). I just wish that the media would try to show them that help is on the way.
 
I have a sneaking suspicion that when it is all assessed it will not be as bleak as is being portrayed right now
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Wow, talk about hitting the nail on the head.
That is exactly what I was trying to convey in my long winded, caffeine induced diatribe
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in that case, i can see where your coming from although i personally won't go so far as to say "it's not as bad as it looks." the news isn't going to show you the house that's not destroyed. you could look out your window and see that. i imagine the camera men down there have thier cameras running 24/7. that 24 hour of video gets condensed into a 2 min. report. so of course they're going to show you the extreme worst cases. couple that with the 18 billion reporters down there, and you have 18 billion video cameras all recording 24/7. of coures there going to run the worst stuff.

add to that a natural flaw in perception. you see on your tv a huge pile of rubble. it fill the screen. the voice over says "mass destruction" you think, maybe subconsiously, that everything not in the picture is rubble too. this could be the same thing on a much larger scale.

but as i said before, i personally wouldn't go so far as to trivialize what's going on down there with an "it's not as bad as i looks" attitude. (i'm not saying thats what your doing. i just think it damn well could be as bad as it looks, maybe worse. i havn't seen any footage of what's going on there at night.)

by the way,
That is exactly what I was trying to convey in my long winded, caffeine induced diatribe
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as you can probably tell by my rambiling, i know what you mean.
 
hawken50 said:
i doubt there's any "media hype" because aside from the passing boat loaded with cnn cameras, there is no media. sure there's reporters every where, but the people can't see the reports. and if they could see the coverage on thier brand new stolen big screen tv...
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C'mon man... Have you EVER watched the news?

A story about getting a kitten out of a tree turns into "America's Challenge"

Also, there's no correlation between the existance or nonexistance of media hype, and whether or not the affected people can see the reports. The hype is being broadcast to the rest of America... hell, the rest of the world.
 
I think it is worse then even the news is trying to show. You usually see the same video over and over. Yet on NO we are talking 90% of an entire CITY under water/sewage - for a month or 2? 50,000-100,000 people with no where to go, no pottable water, no fresh food? Disease, 90-100 degree heat, fire, rain, mosquitoes. And yes - help is constantly streaming in, but sooo slowly. 3 or 4 days later and ALOT of people are still stranded. It will get worse - people will only become more and more desperate.
 
It's all a matter of perspective.

In the wake of the tsunami, we were getting sporadic reports at best. It took days for any rescue efforts to get going, let alone get there. One could watch the news, go to work, come home and maybe there would be an actual update.

Here, we are getting new reports within minutes... It just appears that things are taking soooo long to get going. The reality of mounting rescue efforts of this magnitude take time. But because of the (excess of) reporting, that time appears to drag on.
 
Antipitas-
I don't agree at all. When Andrew hit Miami, substantial help was in place within 48 hours and people were being given information on where to go. When Frances hit us last year and wiped out Hutchinson Island, water was being delivered within 24 hours.

This is far worse. These people are not even in buildings; they're on roadways and wading thru raw sewage....and it's been 4 days! The lack of direction and information will drive the steadiest person near crazy in situations like this. Nobody is telling them where to get help.
Rich
 
Pain, suffering, and outrage are what sell for syndicated news. Anyone who wants goodness and mercy is presumed to be tuned to a religious channel rather than a news channel.
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ROFLAMO!!!! You're not a cynic, gc70 - you're a realist! :D
 
I agree with Rich.....it is NOT pretty

I am not real impressed with state and local officials...noit at all

Their level of preparedness is nowhere near what Forida's has been.

Adding their position (below sea level) made it a lot worse...no doubt.

Florida isn't exactly "high ground" but they only have to worry about storm surge, not the "damn breaking"

My impression is that the Mayor/Governor were simply expecting the Feds to make it all right.
 
Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not at all saying that the level of response is acceptable.

There is plenty of blame to go around. Most of it, I would think is with the local authorities who have been utterly lax in not having a plan. Everyone knew that this could happen and would if a strong hurricane came through.

Like it or not, part of the reason for some of the delays are exactly the reason NOLA has been hit so hard. It's below sea level and below the level of the lake. All of which were held back by levies 50+ years old that everyone, including the Congress knew needed to be updated. The levies are federal property... Where was the funding to upgrade them? Yet, the city made no emergency plans for what they knew was bound to happen. Well, it's happened.

Substantial aid was on scene within 48 hours. Only there was no plan in place. Local LEO's were scattered without C&C in place. Many just outright quit and abandoned NOLA. Some people were told to go to the Superdome, others were told to go to the Convention Center... Operations started at the Dome, while those at the CC were essentially abandoned or held back by the National Guard. Lack of coordinating efforts are only now becoming painfully apparent.

The magnitude of the disaster in NOLA and the surrounding coast is unlike anything in modern US history. Fortunately, we will learn from all this. Unfortunately, nobody planned for it... Even though it was forseeable.

None of this is pretty and the cynic in me says it will get much worse before it gets better.
 
Does anyone here think NOLA is unique? I keep seeing comparison to other areas which endure hurricanes, and due to the geography of NOLA it seems that a comparison only goes as far as, well, a hurricane went through.

The aftermath is completely different in NOLA. It's actually more in line to compare the tsunami in the east with the Katrina in NOLA. The aftermath looks very much the same, however flooding will last much longer in NOLA due to the geography.

I don't necessarily think the local authorities, state authorities, and federal authorities are doing the best job. But that opinion is coming from someone sitting at a desk in the mid-west who knows absolutely nothing about the particulars - compared to the people in charge of coordinating help efforts. That goes for the rest of you as well.

Considering the scale of devastation, coupled with the unruly way certain groups of citizens are acting (some would argue understandably), I do not find it hard to believe administering aid in a timely manner has become such a problem.

We wish we could snap a finger and have the place in tip-top shape. These are fellow American’s in need of help - it pains us. The reality is much different - especially when access is so limited.

Just keep that in mind when you persecute the people coordinating help efforts.
 
It seems that the media is the center of this survival of the fittest mentality.
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Regardless of what the media is reponsible for, the only thing that has ever and will ever be core to the "survival of the fittest" mentality is our own biology. Survival of the fittest is a concept that's been around since the first signs of life appeared on earth and had to compete for resources.

Whatever the media does or doesn't influence, human beings are still animals. We are not that much higher on the evolutionary scale than any other primate and situations where survival is key our instincts tend to prevail.

We've all heard about the murder and rape going on down there....those are social constructs, not biological ones. Rape and murder don't exist in the animal kingdom, we created those terms to associate them with acts we deemed immoral. The point is that no matter how civilized we try to act the simple fact remains that we are animals and when cornered, we will tend to act like animals.
 
Good points, all.

but as i said before, i personally wouldn't go so far as to trivialize what's going on down there with an "it's not as bad as i looks" attitude. (i'm not saying thats what your doing. i just think it damn well could be as bad as it looks, maybe worse. i havn't seen any footage of what's going on there at night.)
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Two good points.

1. I don't think any of us here would dare to trivialize the situation or assume that it is not a terrible thing that has happened. Only stating that it is not quite the armageddon that the news has portrayed.

2. You are quite right. It could be far worse than we are being shown. We all hope not.

Regardless of what the media is reponsible for, the only thing that has ever and will ever be core to the "survival of the fittest" mentality is our own biology.
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Let me clarify my position there, too. Survival of the fittest was not the correct choice of words, and you are quite correct about it's source. What the media has created is a sense of hopelessness for these people. The media is creating the impression that no help is coming to them. Because of that, many people have decided that rather than come together and help each other, they should fend for themselves even if it means robbing or killing to get it.

It just seems that the media has created low morale in everyone by telling them that they are all alone and no one cares, which we all know is just not true.
 
but then it goes back to the question of how they're even seeing this media attention :confused: I'm sure some could've seen news reports but where are all these people with no power getting their news?
 
I'd like to say that I am appaled by some of the posts on this forum. I am from New Orleans. I'm am currently staying in a rathole hotel in Texas becuase I'm not sure if I even have a home to go back to. There are so many people I know who are missing, I can't even count them all. I have been in touch with some people who have stayed and what they're saying on the news is nowhere near as bad as it really is.

I've been told by people who are actually there, that in parts of the city they're in, the water is up to the windows of SECOND floor apartments. They're trapped on a rooftop, 20 people and seven dogs and cats. They have to keep watch because they've been shot at. There are bodies that float down the street regularly. And there's worse parts of the city.

To sit there behind your computer screen and pontificate about whether or not the media is makeing this out to be worse than it really is is sickening. There's a very real possiblity that there are more than a dozen people I know that are dead. Drowned. Gone.
 
Sterno-
I don't even know what to say....I can't find words to console you and I pray it's not as bad as you fear.

Is there anything we can do to help?
Rich
 
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