From the Washington Post:
Five weeks after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to New Orleans, some local, state and federal officials have come to believe that exaggerations of mayhem by officials and rumors repeated uncritically in the news media helped slow the response to the disaster and tarnish the image of many of its victims.
Claims of widespread looting, gunfire directed at helicopters and rescuers, homicides, and rapes, including those of “babies” at the Louisiana Superdome, frequently turned out to be overblown, if not completely untrue, officials now say.
Among false reports emerging from New Orleans was news of a young corpse with a slashed throat. Officials have no such record.
The sensational accounts delayed rescue and evacuation efforts already hampered by poor planning and a lack of coordination among local, state and federal agencies. People rushing to the Gulf Coast to fly rescue helicopters or to distribute food, water and other aid steeled themselves for battle. In communities near and far, the seeds were planted that the victims of Katrina should be kept away, or at least handled with extreme caution.
“Rumor control was a beast for us,” said Maj. Ed Bush of the Louisiana National Guard, who was stationed at the Superdome. “People would hear something on the radio and come and say that people were getting raped in the bathroom or someone had been murdered. I would say, ‘Ma’am, where?’ I would tell them if there were bodies, my guys would find it. Everybody heard, nobody saw. Logic was out the window because the situation was illogical.”
There was an unnerving amount of lawlessness, especially looting, in the streets of New Orleans after the hurricane. But many of the more salacious reports have not withstood close examination by government officials or the media.
CNN reported repeatedly on Sept. 1, three days after Katrina ravaged New Orleans, that evacuations at the Superdome were suspended because “someone fired a shot at a helicopter.” But Louisiana National Guard officials on the ground at the time now say that no helicopters came under attack and that evacuations were never stopped because of gunfire.
Later that morning, during a briefing carried live on local radio and local and national television, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said, “We have gotten reports, but unconfirmed, of some of our deputies and sheriffs that have either been injured or killed.” Of the thousands of law enforcement officials who converged on New Orleans, only one was shot. The wound to the leg was self-inflicted in a struggle, a spokesman for the Guard said last week.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that National Guard troops found 30 to 40 bodies decomposing inside a freezer in the convention center, including a girl whose throat was slashed. The newspaper quoted a member of the Arkansas National Guard, which was deployed in the building. Other news organizations then passed the information on.
That, too, was untrue. On Monday, Bob Johannessen, a spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, said that four bodies were found—one was a gunshot victim. He said officials had no record of a dead girl with her throat cut.
The Washington Post, in a Sept. 1 front-page article, noted that evacuees at the Superdome were repeating rumors of rapes and killings but quoted Maj. Bush as saying “none of that” occurred. A Sept. 15 front-page story said the precise number of people who died in the convention center was not known at the time, but officials believed it could be as many as 10.
Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore, commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, said that reporters got bogged down trying to tell people how bad the situation was rather than “gathering facts and corroborating that information.”
[My emphases]
Regular readers of this site know that I was particularly hard on the press during my postings on Katrina, arguing from early on that media reports were not only hampering rescue and relief efforts, but that they might in fact change public policy and—in the extreme case of Posse Comitatus—challenge long-guarded Constitutional standards.
For my troubles, I was pestered, belittled, and heckled by Pierre Legrand of Pink Flamingo Bar and Grill, who suggested—again and again and again and again—that “raising awareness” and “getting people’s attention” was the job of the media, and, that by holding them to the standard of actually checking their facts before they breathlessly reported them, I was (in addition to a Hugh Hewitt lackey and a Bush apologist) being absurd and unrealistic. After all, people like Shep Smith or Anderson Cooper were too busy being breathless and raising awareness to do any research. I mean, they were in the shit, right?
Anyway, this post is for Pierre. Who can now officially kiss my ass.
Because at protein wisdom, while we try not to be triumphalist, we’re certainly not above putting in the blade and twisting when the circumstances call for it.
In fact, it’s part of our charm.
PILE ON!*
(More, from Matt Welch, including a nice roundup of media retractions, and a Q&A with Major Ed Bush, public affairs officer for the Louisiana National Guard.)
*I’ll probably take this post down after a little while; but for now, it just feels right.
INCOMING!!!
Can a talking head be arrested for yelling
“FIRE!” in a crowded disaster?
Ahhh, I love the smell of vindication in the afternoon.
Great job, Jeff.
Michael Brown planted all those rumors! He had to because everybody knows it was all his fault.
(gay newscock of lies)
Let’s not forget about the pinheads over at “The Corner.” They should be forced to write this article on each other’s foreheads a 1000 times over.
P.S. Why take the post down??
P.S. Why take the post down??
Eh, I don’t want to sound like I’m patting myself on the back, because honestly, that’s not what this post is about. It’s just a follow-up to all those ridulous posts some guy kept dropping in my comments.
Not sure how good I feel about leaving it up.
Oh, have a beer and don’t think about it again.
Not that it makes any difference but I vote you leave it up. You’ve earned it. The hysteria among the media and even normally rational people in the blogosphere was astounding. You were one of the very few who didn’t get swept up into it and actually tried to figure out what was really going on.
Keep twisting, Jeff.
2nd to last paragraph sure sounds like the Post is trying to cover their asses.
It’s not the truth of the rumors we should be looking at, but the substance of the charges. I don’t know how or why the media has become the story, but Michael Brown stills needs to answer whether he raped a baby in the Superdome while shooting at rescue helicopters and crippling Gov. Blanco’s superior decision making abilities all at the personal behest of Bush. We need to get Dan Rather on this story, now!
Heck, I think you’re justified not only for posting this, but reposting it every time the media does this again (and, rest assured, they will).
There needs to be some sort of punishment for blatantly irresponsible behavior of this sort, and my financial boycott of the MSM evidently isn’t working. So keep shoveling the shame, because something aught to stick.
TW – larger, as in larger and larger lies.
Okay you can take it down,,,,,,,,,,,,, tomorrow.
Good job Jeff.
Please, please leave it up, Jeff. The media needs your thumb in it’s eye more than ever. The sight of those smug bastards actually congratulating each other on their absolutely abysmal coverage of Katrina demands an eternal mememorial to such incompetent narcisscism – and I nominate Shep Smith as poster-boy.
So if my excessive use of italics hasn’t convinced you by now, well, you’re just not thinking.
Jeff, you are truly one of the best bloggers out there. Your articles are always passionate, intelligent and informative. The quality of your posts have gone from good to God-like in the last 2 months. Keep up the good work.
Coincidentally, the Washington Post article was written by some guy named Pierre (last name.)
I vote you leave it up.
The media doesn’t just do this in the US, they do it in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Soldiers and their families have dealt with this kind of shit for years now..The reality on the ground rarely matches what we see on TV or in print.
I’m not naive enough to hope that the media will change it’s ways, but I’ll continue to hope that the more people who realize that large portions of the media are full of shit..that the bigger the impact will be made where it counts.
Revenue baby, revenue.
Take it down? Whatever for??
Now lets see the Lamestream media report this…..
[crickets chirping]
That’s what I thought…..
Absolutely, give the posting a week at least before thinking about yanking it down.
I followed every one of those threads and participated in the comments of nearly all of them. So I felt a little of just what you are right now when I myself read the Post’s story on this this morning.
Oh, and let’s not forget Mike Brown’s testimony before Congress about FEMA’s response. As I remember he said that numerous contracted drivers delayed delivering FEMA goods because of the rumors about drivers being jumped by gunwielding thugs.
Good chance for you to say “I told you so..”
But, this is not really news to those of us with half a brain left. My one functioning brain cell always questioned the over-the-top screaming of the MSM newsies in NOLA. Even Fox News was guilty.
I was in Austin Texas the night before Rita made land fall. The Austin paper’s headlines was:
Forecast: Disaster
The next mornings news was:
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE did not DIE!
DOZENS OF TOWNS were not DESTROYED!
LOCAL, STATE AND FEDERAL AUTHORITIES did not FAIL TO EVACUATE THOUSANDS!
Okay, I’ll shut my trap now.
The Hobo
“because not just <u>anybody</u> can summarize the news”
Uh Yup, that’s a big “No Shit”.
Leave it up Jeff,
It matters not a whit what the MSM says or does. What matters is that those new to the blogosphere question the blind acceptance of their habitual news sources.
Their seed of doubt will root and spread more quickly if they can reference that which caused their misgivings when gathered at the water cooler or coffee klatch.
Okay, so you can’t underline and italicize at the same time. Oh well.
Jeff,
This isn’t patting yourself on the back. It giving the finger to those who deserve it. My vote is to keep it up. They need to be reminded of this everyday of the rest of their careers. May that be short.
Yes you can.
I’m with alien gray. If I want boring, I’ll read the Washington Post!
Do you actually take posts down? I think that’s morally wrong.
But I still love your stuff.
Deleting posts is morally wrong? Are you serious?
Jeff – Leave the post up. Have you read some of Pierre’s recent stuff? He’s trying to argue that all those Superdome murders did happen, and all this backtracking is a meme being spread by Bush apologists with the press as willing accomplices in the coverup for… well, for some batshit reason. The dude’s insane.
Take it down!!!??? Forget that noise, bump this puppy to the top, and keep bumping it!!!
Email copies of this post far and wide through the blogsophere, to those on the left and those on the right. Endzone dance like Terrell Owens on ‘ludes. Refer to all those who disagreed with you on this as hysterical scare-merchants. Point out over and over that all of the people who were applauding Robo-Shep and Geraldo and Anderson probably have blood on their hands. Make Rod Dreher your frilly, little, tarted up bitch.
Why? Becuase this is the only way to make those who who value “lessons” over factual reporting pay the truth any heed whatsoever.
Jesus, I sound like I should be posting at KOS. Maybe you should take this one down after all, but only after a couple weeks of serious gloating. You know what they say, the just deserts always taste best.
I’d keep the post up, Jeff. You earned it. Your analysis of Katrina’s media coverage has been invaluable; you’ve provided context and depth on an issue where the so-called “experts” have fallen sickeningly short.
And, well, it’s not every day that you get such an opportunity to tell a time-wasting puke like Pierre to eat a big cold bowl of fuck.
I don’t know if I love his stuff, because he actually did take down the one picture he ever posted of it.
Jeff, you deserve a little gloating time. Who would have thought that actually waiting for and asking for facts would actually become gloat-worthy. That is a sad commentary on our current media situation. But a great reflection on you.
Big media went on a serious binge during Katrina, and should be embarassed to find out what they’ve woken up to find in their bed. And they should be made to realize that their binge made their performance wildly dramatic, yet impotent, and thus only really satisfying to them.
Leave it up. And re-run the Shep Smith adventures. “That’s hell fire. That’s purity.” I laughed until my sides hurt over that one.
Taking this post down would be a travesty…ok, maybe some editing like “kiss my ass..” but I happen to like those parts.
What interests me is this part…”The public is accustomed to riotous behavior from black people in lower-class neighborhoods,” he said. “Anybody who has looked at television over the last 40 years has seen black Americans tearing up places, looting places.”
Obviously, since Mr Crouch is black this is an acceptable statement, right?
And Mr Crouch was one of the recent Bennett rippers?
I’m not sure who first posted on it, but You took the picture, framed it and hung it on the wall. It was what made it an issue for me. Do with the post what you will. As long as you do the voodoo that you do….so weeelll.
“felt”: vindicated, I would say.
Don’t you dare take this down. And if need any more backup – I just redeployed back home from a lovely month in the Greater Metropolitan Atrocity Zone…er…New Orleans. I was still looking for all the stuff I had heard about in the media all the way up until I climbed on a vehicle bound for home.
P.S. That helicopter-being-shot-at rumor really baked my onion. We were laughing at that one while it was still getting airtime.
Leave it. You deserve to get some credit for what seemed like the only sane coverage in the Blogosphere – or anywhere else. Like Bill Maher, the newsies seem to be only interested in rubbing their own genitals – or mustache, in one certain case – on the camera’s lens. Your curiosity, Jeff, is what sets you apart from those idiots. So I say thank YOU – and screw them.
And here’s something else that this post has popped into my head.
I haven’t watched the broadcast networks for years, and I would recommend it to anyone who would care to join me. Not only does their news SUCK (I would put that in 28 point type if I could), but their regular programming is downright insulting to anyone with half a brain. I think it was “ALF” that first drove me crazy with inappropriate laughter (added by a machine, no less) at the stupidest, most unfunny and inane dialogue and “jokes” I had EVER heard – and it’s been downhill from there. Since then, I don’t think I’ve watched network TV for more than two or three minutes at a time. I can’t. I just get too PISSED! It’s just too insulting.
A partial list: Katie Couric makes my ears start bleeding. Dianne sawyer makes me want to kill anything in sight. Ted Koppel makes me want to stick hat pins in my eardrums. Dan Rather reminds me of someone who is four feet tall but won’t admit it. On and on and on…..
Even their sexual innuendo is sooooo lame that I don’t think it would have been funny to me even as an eighth grader. I am actually embarrassed for the people who write that crap. As far as I can see, the people who write for and run the networks are only interested in masturbating each other. I dunno, maybe they all live in the same room.
So quit watching the networks and let everyone know you’re not watching anymore. Maybe we can cut their audiences down to where they can only get the $25 a minute ad rate that their programming deserves (10 cents a minute for any “reality program”. Reality my ass. All reality shows should be named “Super Bitchy New Millenium Idiots”).
You know, just talking about the TV networks makes me shiver like I used to when I would wake up from a dead sleep at three A.M. and take a big pull on my bottle of Captain Morgan. Blechhh…
(sound of a brumski)
Certainly, the MSM had a huge part of the silliness that was Katrina coverage.
But the root problem remains that incompetence and corruption of Louisiana officials who were sourcing these ludicrous reports. It was the now disgraced and resigned NOPD chief who told people of the nonexistant deaths at the convention center. It was Broussard who lied about his acquaintance’s mother in the nursing home.
Take this post down, and there will be BLOOD IN THE STREETS!
[t/w: “end.”]
Robin–
Remember where Mayor Nagin was when he spewed that crap about “10,000 dead”? It wasn’t the city of New Orleans. Furthermore, the police radios weren’t working. Who could possibly have rounded up enough information to form a cogent estimate? Where did he get that number? Did any one of the hundreds of “journalists” in the area bother to ask where and how he got that information?
John Hinderaker is right. There should be a Congressional investigation.
An investigation into the unprofessional conduct of the press? Ridiculous. That investigation would last longer than Whitewater.
“What is Truth?” Millions of people now believe what they saw and heard on the news during the first days of Katrina coverage, while they were plastered to their TV sets. The story has fallen behind the news cycle event horizon; the popular mythos is now historical “fact”.
Pierre’s latest bit of incisiveness:
No comment.
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! ZING!
I say leave it up, because it’s not like your whining about people not paying attention to you. What you’re saying is that you were right, and the whole time people were haranging you about being wrong. It’s only right to let the record show where the bullshit was being shoveled, and where it wasn’t.
Leave it up, or I’ll sic Miss Alli on you.
BECAUSE OF THE HIPCOCKRASY!
“In your face, space-coyote!” – Homer Simpson
Word: wrote. “And that’s all she wrote.”
This<a href=”http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail35.html” target=”_blank”> Miss Alli?
No, this Miss Alli.
Did anybody but me see Compass and a few cops and their screaming news conference before the Guard arrived? Compass called the cops who left “cowards” and said they were holding off gunmen, hadn’t slept, like Ft. Apache, etc. I wonder if that was bogus, too.
C-141 has more of a point than first glances might indicate. If, as has happened here, mis, dis and non-information is firmly entrenched in the ‘national consciousness’, what will ‘history’ use as a benchmark against which to judge the events as they unfolded?
‘The Federal Government’s slow/sluggish/inadequate response’is considered a given, even within the Fed itself, and decisions regarding future preparedness are being made with that soundbite firmly in mind.
For that reason, if no other, leave the post up. If ‘we’ are going to let history be the judge of the government’s response to Katrina, people have to make sure that history has the real facts of the matter. [consider this an un-linked, shameless plug for an un-named blog that covered the ‘history’ angle (I’m a whore, but I have standards)]
Hey, Jeff, the WSJ made essentially the same points in a news article on Sep 30, which instapundit linked to. I put a link to it on one of your Hurricaine Press threads. You shoulda read more carefully, and you coulda been gloating a week ago!
cathy
Bravo, Jeff. Leave it up. I would also recommend that people, if encountering “news people” of televised persuasion, just spit at them like the untouchables that they are.
Jay-sus, people, would you stop coming up with this imagery? I get pictures in my head that I can’t get out.
hehe…Jeffery for a guy who spent most of his debating time with me calling me names you sure play the part of a victim well. You sure you want to start it up again? You didn’t fare that well with your last attempt at having me kiss your ass. Matter of fact you simply gave up when confronted with facts.
Don’t have the time to play now but not to worry I will be back.
Poor little victim….awww.
Pierre Legrand
More revisionist history, Pierre. I’m not a “victim” of anything other than your incessant, lunatic pestering.
I never debated you. There was nothing to debate. Your preening, emotional rants weren’t arguments . Which is why I simply stopped reading what you wrote.
Expect more of the same.
English your second language Jeffery?
Maybe things are a bit different in Colorado but down south that is called whining…and its done by victims.
Pierre Legrand
And where I come from, that’s called a “description”—complete with links.
By the way, you don’t need to sign your name at the bottom of your comments. The software puts it in for you.
Anyway, I’m through with you. You’re on your own.
Who is “Jeffery?”
Face it, Pierre: the real narrative here is that you made a huge, credulous ass of yourself with a big assist from Shepard Smith.
I wouldn’t go around throwing stones that might wind up also landing on your own head.
Awww gee Jeffery you are such a wit and little old me is jus a moron.
Pierre Legrand
PS I like seeing my name….by the way notice I STILL havent called you names. Wow this moron is confident enough in his debating skills that names are not needed. But you can call me moron if it helps.
Moron.
And, you’re welcome.
Bill from InDC,
Exactly how have I made a big ass out of myself in this little exchange with Jeffery? I simply asked a question that should have been easy to answer.
For this question this group of geniuses jumped to all sorts of conclusion. And dear old Jeffery was reduced to calling me names instead of simply answering the question. I dont as a rule defend the MSM, not even Fox News but simply stated no one had reported on the plight of those people on the overpass. Shep did good by reporting it.
Is it some sort of allegiance test to the blogsphere that I condemn every single person in the MSM? I never went beyond the example of Shepard Smith simply because I never had time to watch television during the first week. I did manage to see him because he was on at work when I was in front of a TV. In the specific instance of Shepard Smith from what I saw he was providing a service.
What we have in the blogsphere is this taking sides crap as if there are sides. The left blames President Bush, the right blames the Media…holy smokes who knew it was that easy.
The left ignores the monumental incompetence of Blanco and Nagin along with various other public officials down here. The right ignores, and this is really bizarre since as a rule we conservatives are supposed to be suspicious of big government, the bloody bureaucratic incompetence of FEMA. Instead they focus on their old Nemesis the Media…well sorry to say fellas but why don’t you guys ask about Action Requests and the process that FEMA had for responding to those supposedly important documents? Why not ask what sort of filing system they had for keeping track of what sort of requests they were getting? While you are at it ask about how they acquire new products that could help them keep track of that sort of stuff? Do I believe that FEMA was equally to blame for the failures in NO? Nope, Blanco and Nagin are 65% of the problem. FEMA though is not unscathed.
I don’t as a rule read the left wing sites since I simply don’t have the time. But the rightwing sites were starting to get on my nerves because in their headlong rush to discredit the MSM they were minimizing the horror of what we saw down here.
We had the popular blog post about Facts of Katrina.
Where they laughed at the 10,000 figure that Mayor Nagin was said to have used. Yea 1,000 dead in a major US city is a LOT better, everything is just fine if we only lost 1,000. They didn’t think to ask about where he might have gotten that figure from. If they had they might have learned that 10,000 was the low-ball estimate postulated in estimates made years prior of a Cat 5 hurricane.
Where they laughed that hey Katrina was not the WORST natural disaster ever but the 7th. Wow, I feel a lot better now. Course they got that wrong as well. We are the 5th worst.
Where not finding piles of bodies inside the Dome meant that “hey things were peachy inside”…where not finding a 7 year old with her throat slashed all of a sudden made it likely that no rapes had occured inside the Dome. Which btw I have 2 doctors who claim they did. In one case it was apparently stopped short of rape and was merely an assault and the other was indeed a rape. But hey it was peachy inside.
Does that mean I believe that the Press was not complicit in another attempt to attack my President. Nope. But to pillar them for getting some information wrong when even the owner of this site cannot get his information correct sitting on his ass in Colorado is unfair. Witness his declaration that Shepard Smith should have somehow knew that the Red Cross and Salvation Army were denied entrance into the Dome, when the story didn’t come out until September 8. What sort of conditions prevented Jeffery from getting the story right? Floods? Looters?
48 Hours in ideal conditions is the recommended maximum time to go without water. It was 90+ on the overpass. Telling people that they need to bring food and water with them for 3 days when they are walking is hilarious…and most of those on the overpass were walking through deep water. And Shepard Smith did not report that the local officials were blocking the aid because Major Garrett didn’t come out with that story till about 6 days later.
So tell me exactly what prevents Jeffery from getting the story right?
Pierre Legrand
For this question this group of geniuses jumped to all sorts of conclusion. And dear old Jeffery was reduced to calling me names instead of simply answering the question.
Wrong, for that question Jeff told you to go read what he had already said. He called you a moron, I imagine, because you either refused to read what he said elsewhere or you read it and still ended up asking that silly question’s focus on Shep Smith. Understanding of the full context of Jeff’s opinion is beholden upon you, if you are going to make charges and assumptions as you have, since it’s all right there at your fingertips to click through and read.
Shep Smith has never been the central focus of the criticism of the MSM behavior as you are seemingly trying to make him. Get over it. Shep’s undeniably breathless tone, without context, was a part of the media hysteria that contributed to rash decisions by those tasked with rescuing people and distributing aid.
Your unclever attempt at clumsily parsing Shep’s non-journalism on the overpass out of this MSM fiasco is tedious and doesn’t change Jeff’s greater point one sliver. Your “gotcha” attempt didn’t work.
Eric,
Interesting attempt to defend Jeff’s inability to live up to the standards he lays down for the “Legacy Media”. They are supposed to get the facts right in the middle of chaos but he is allowed a bye because…I simply don’t understand the poor dear. That excuses his getting a timeline wrong that he used to savage someone doing far more important work than standing on the sidelines whining. That timeline was one of his central themes in attacking Shep.
I have slogged through a tremendous amount of his “poetry” and much of it dealt with savaging Shepard Smith, How you can tell for certain that Hurricane Katrina coverage series He is by his own admission quite the clever guy…but not so clever to intice me to make my weary way through such a mountain of information when he cannot even get a simple timeline right in regards to Garretts report on the holdup of aid which Jeff used to attack Shep.
The focus I had was on Smith because in fact I was responsding to Jeff’s article that dealt mainly on Smiths failings as a journalist. Now Shepard Smith as far as I am concerned is not a top notch reporter. I am not overly fond of his mannerisms but I am not so arrogant to say that I would resent them if he was instrumental in highlighting my plight should I find myself on an overpass in 90+ heat with no food and water.
Whether my gotcha was effective or not, it does show a sloppiness that shouldnt be there for someone holding others feet to the fire. His timeline is wrong, Garrett’s report was produced days after Shep was on the Overpass. The sloppiness is further shown by his declaring that those people were told to bring food and water, not considering in his sloppiness their circumstances. But even more importantly that it was NOT the people on the overpass that were told to bring food and water…it was the people in the Dome. That advice was also absurd btw.
Thank you for playing.
Pierre Legrand
Life is too short for this nonsense. I used Garrett to show good reporting vs the immediate hyperbolic reporting done by Smith. It took longer, but it was right.
Goodbye, Pierre. I’m tired of you wasting my bandwidth with your smug and condescending idiocy.
You’re a worldclass fuckwit. And if either one of us is interested in professing his cleverness, that honor clearly goes to you.
Congrats. You’re banned.
Wow. I feel better already!
Good on ya, “Jeffery.” Pierre is completely insane.
”Are y’all sure that there were no rapes inside or the dome? Are y’all sure beyond a shadow of doubt that there were no murders inside of the convention center?”
Yes. Absolutely, positively sure. Got proof that I’m wrong? If so, present it, and I’ll publicly admit that I’m wrong.
Until then, though, I’ll call you a bare-faced liar and a common sensationalist.
TW: It’s clear to me that you’re a bare-faced liar and a common sensationalist.