LETTERS: Readers Want Press to Focus More on Hurricane Damage

By: E&P Staff A trip to New Orleans last weekend compelled E&P editor-at-large Mark Fitzgerald to write a column taking the press to task for moving on too fast after Hurricane Katrina. As soon as the column posted to the Web, e-mails from New Orleans residents began pouring in offering thanks and heartfelt pleas for continued press coverage. Below is a sampling of the response, but first, a clarification to the column from Fitzgerald.

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At one point in my Dec. 19 commentary ('E&P' in New Orleans: 'The Press Has Moved on Too Fast'), I let my passion for the topic push aside my reason. Casting about for an exception to prove the rule that too much of the press outside the Gulf has drained its post-Katrina coverage of context and compassion, I latched on to a Dec. 18 New York Times front-page story by Shaila Dewan and Janet Roberts.

I wrote that "The New York Times reported over the weekend that just about every single person who stayed in New Orleans during Katrina did so by choice -- news, perhaps, to the rest of America, but a fact long-ago documented by The Times-Picayune."

That was a gratuitous, if unintentional, swipe at what was a very well-reported story that challenged the myth that most New Orleanians who stayed behind as Hurricane Katrina approached were left behind. The persistence of this myth is one reason that, with the rebuilding of vast neighborhoods of New Orleans virtually paralyzed, Congress feels no embarrassment focusing a hearing instead on why a couple of hundred school buses were not deployed in the hurricane evacuation. Sure, The Times-Picayune was first to shoot down the myth, but The New York Times report brings welcome national attention and clarification to the issue.

Ironically, too, while I was in New Orleans two other exceptions appeared in my hometown Chicago papers: an up-close look at the devastation to housing by Chicago Tribune architectural critic Blair Kamin, and a view of New Orleans destruction through the eyes of local and national musicians by Chicago Sun-Times staff writer Dave Hoekstra.

Mark Fitzgerald
Editor-at-Large
Editor & Publisher

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Readers Respond

Thanks for your great story on New Orleans. I'm going back for the first time this week. You are so right -- as I'm getting e-mails from friends, neighbors, and co-workers dealing with shattered lives, friends in other areas of the country are almost indifferent. One recently encouraged me to "move on." If we don't continue to write about the human toll, I'm afraid my lovely and quirky city will sink into oblivion, and that would be a shame for our world. Thanks again for drawing back the curtain and making readers see the devastation.

Cindy Montgomery
Metro editor
The Charlotte Observer

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Thanks for your good column on New Orleans -- I had the same response when I took a group of grad students to the Gulf several weeks ago to cover the undercovered "recovery" (or lack thereof).

I just returned from the Mississippi coast -- and that would be another column. Highway 90, the coast road, is now open; I drove it and saw mile after mile of devastation beyond belief. Like New Orleans, that whole region is still struggling -- and there's a feeling that, compared to New Orleans, the Mississippi coast is invisible in the media (as the Biloxi Sun Herald said in an editorial last week).

Carol Polsgrove
Professor
School of Journalism
Indiana University

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Where Are You, Greta?

Where is the press? They find one girl's disappearance in a foreign
country much more newsworthy than one of New Orleans' best entertainers living on a cruise ship because his house and all his years of memories floated away. He lost all his instruments and his way of life. Where is Greta? This would be a good human-interest story, and the Scott Peterson trial was finished long ago.

Where is Jessie Jackson with a volunteer crew to rebuild one house at a time? Where are the churches or Habitat for Humanity? I think the animals have received more attention and care than the people have.

There is no doubt that New Orleans will never be the same. Neither will the individuals that lost everything.

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I blame our press. If Americans really knew the total annihilation of an area the size of Great Britain, they would rally with compassion. It seems a better story to report a car bomb that flubbed than the very real struggles of our fellow Americans. Ignoring the plight of those affected by Katrina and Rita is shameful.

Catherine Hall


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The press, the American people and at times it seems our federal government has moved on too fast.

I am a native New Orleanean who now lives in Southern California (I moved before the hurricane hit). Everyone in my family was impacted by the hurricane. (I am one of the few in my family that has moved away from the city; New Orleanians don't typically move away unless forced out, and even then...) My parents hung Christmas lights on their FEMA trailer yesterday and my sister just moved into hers. I waited a few weeks to go back home after the hurricane hit. Although in the interim, I spoke to my family everyday and read and watched the news coverage, I was completely unprepared for what I saw when I got there. You are right, New Orleans is devastated. After the hurricane hit, I tried to give upbeat updates to my concerned friends who lived elsewhere in the country. But, since returning, I tell them what I now know to be the truth of the matter: New Orleans is devastated. It's a nightmare. It was a nightmare the day the hurricane hit and it's a nightmare now. You're right, you can't fully grasp the magnitude of it until you see it for yourself. So we need media to show and tell Americans what's happening. I scour national and local newspapers every day for information, but the Times-Picayune is the only source I can depend on to keep me updated on what's going on. There are so many important stories that aren't being covered. I'm heartened to know that your publication, which as a journalist/editor I have a tremendous amount of respect for, is tuning in to what's going on in New Orleans. Your description of the situation in the city was right on target. Thank you and please stay tuned into the story.

Bonnie Bauman
New Orleanian

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Many New Orleanians have made their way back to the surrounding areas of our city in the hope we can salvage a lifetime of belongings and rebuild a place that is dear to our hearts. To truly understand the devastation of our beloved city is to be here and feel what is currently lost. The hearts of true New Orleanians may be broken but we will never give up on our city because we treasure our way of life. The distinct neighborhoods and blending of cultures has made us who we are today. We are genuine, considerate, and the friendliest people on earth. Other places have plenty more to offer right now but could never give us what we truly miss and need... Our city and its people. Together we will overcome this adversity and get back to our lives as we knew it before this man made disaster because it's part of our makeup. It's why we are back and willing to sacrifice the conveniences we can get anywhere else right now. We will persevere through determination and hard work. A true reflection of this great city and its people. Thanks again for your report.

Louie Bonnecarre
New Orleans, La.

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Plaudits for Poetry

Re: Newspapers Find Receptive Audience for Poetry Column

If ever we needed poetry...we need it now...at this time of disheartening news, dismaying political ploys, and war claiming more and more of our US troops. It is helpful to take some time to read poetry and prose, which transcends all of our earthly concerns. It is food for the heart, mind and soul as our daily multi-vitamin is for the body.

Jacqueline A. Beusse

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Kristof/O'Reilly Feud

Re: Round Four: Bill O'Reilly Hits Back at Nick Kristof

As a hated liberal, I have to say that Mr. Kristof should count his losses and disengage this enemy of intelligent thought. O'Reilly continues to show why those of us on the left are terrified of those on the right. Self-righteous, self-important, and ignorant.

Jeffrey D. Howard
(Proud Progressive)

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It is time that someone took on the ridiculous (and harmful) rants that come from Bill O'Reilly. He has been allowed to spew his venom and lies for so long that many people just take what he says as "truth." O'Reilly is a true bully. He makes a statement without any basis in reality -- such as the alleged war against Christmas ? and then sane minded individuals have to prove a negative ? a difficult task at best. O'Reilly will come up with some holier than thou response to Kristof ? after all murder and torture in Darfur is nothing compared to Target wishing American citizens "Happy Holidays."

Constance M. Warner