More Katrina-coverage post-mortem, from Reason‘s Matt Welch:
On September 1, 72 hours after Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, the Associated Press news wire flashed a nightmare of a story: “Katrina Evacuation Halted Amid Gunfire…Shots Are Fired at Military Helicopter.â€Â
The article flew across the globe via at least 150 news outlets, from India to Turkey to Spain. Within 24 hours commentators on every major American television news network had helped turn the helicopter sniper image into the disaster’s enduring symbol of dysfunctional urbanites too depraved to be saved.
Golfer Tiger Woods spoke for many of us on September 2 when he remarked, during a tournament in Boston, that “it’s just unbelievable…how people are behaving, with the shootings and now the gang rapes and the gang violence and shooting at helicopters who are trying to help out and rescue people.â€Â
Like many early horror stories about ultra-violent New Orleans natives, whether in their home city or in far-flung temporary shelters, the A.P. article turned out to be false. Evacuation from the city of New Orleans was never “halted,†according to officials from the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Louisiana National Guard. The only helicopter airlifts stopped were those by a single private company, Acadian Ambulance, from a single location: the Superdome. And Acadian officials, who had one of the only functional communications systems in all of New Orleans during those first days, were taking every opportunity to lobby for a massive military response.
More important, there has been no official confirmation that a single military helicopter over New Orleansâ€â€let alone a National Guard Chinook in the pre-dawn hours of September 1â€â€was fired upon.
[…]
But the basic premise of the article that introduced the New Orleans helicopter sniper to a global audience was dead wrong, just like so many other widely disseminated Katrina nightmares. No 7-year-old rape victim with a slit throat was ever found, even though the atrocity was reported in scores of newspapers. The Convention Center freezer was not stacked with 30 or 40 dead bodies, nor was the Superdome a live-in morgue. (An estimated 10 people died inside the two buildings combined, and only one was slain, according to the best data from National Guard officials at press time.)
Tales of rapes, carjackings, and gang violence by Katrina refugees quickly circulated in such evacuee centers as Baton Rouge, Houston, and Leesville, Louisianaâ€â€and were almost as quickly debunked.
From a journalistic point of view, the root causes of the bogus reports were largely the same: The communication breakdown without and especially within New Orleans created an information vacuum in which wild oral rumor thrived. Reporters failed to exercise enough skepticism in passing along secondhand testimony from victims (who often just parroted what they picked up from the rumor mill), and they were far too eager to broadcast as fact apocalyptic statements from government officialsâ€â€such as Mayor Ray Nagin’s prediction of 10,000 Katrina-related deaths (there were less than 900 in New Orleans at press time) and Police Superintendent Edwin Compass’ reference on The Oprah Winfrey Show to “little babies getting rapedâ€Ââ€â€without factoring in discounts for incompetence and ulterior motives.
Just about every local official and emergency responder with access to the media in those first heartbreaking days basically screamed, and understandably so, for federal assistance. With their citizens stranded, desperate, and even dying, with their own response a shambles, and with their families and employees in mortal jeopardy, they had ample temptation to exaggerate the wretchedness of local conditions and ample fatigue to let some whoppers fly.
I caught some flack for taking Jonah Goldberg (as well as Rod Dreher, Kevin Drum, Newsweek, Andrew Sullivan, the Moderate Voice, and others) to task over this—and for taking a few (I believe) deservedly pointed shots at FOXNews’ resident Pulitzer-pretender, the breathless and perpetually outraged Shep Smith—but I think such rejoinders, particularly those so thoroughly sourced as Welch’s, are absolutely necessary if we are to pushback against the kind of media-driven sensationalism that, by convincing those running support operations that the situation was far more dangerous than it was, causing delays in rescue operations that it turns out were unnecessary, might literally have cost lives:
The reports of rampant lawlessness, especially the persistent urban legend of shooting at helicopters, definitely delayed some emergency and law enforcement responses. Reports abounded, from places like Andover, Massachusetts, of localities refusing to send their firefighters because of “people shooting at helicopters.†The National Guard refused to approach the Convention Center until September 2, 100 hours after the hurricane, because “we waited until we had enough force in place to do an overwhelming force,†Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum told reporters on September 3.
“One of my good friends, Col. Jacques Thibodeaux, led that security effort,†Bush says. “They said, ‘Jacques, you gotta get down here and sweep this thing.’ He said he was braced for anything. And he encountered nothingâ€â€other than a whole lot of people clapping and cheering and so glad that they were here.â€Â
One persistent commenter here chided me regularly for blasting Smith’s coverage—his argument being that Smith’s hyperbole was drawing needed attention to a dire situation, or, to put it more bluntly, that Smith’s exaggerations were serving the greater good. It turns out they were not:
“New Orleanians have been kind of cheated, because now everybody thinks that they just turned to animals, and that there was complete lawlessness and utter abandon,†says Maj. Bush. “And that wasn’t the case.…There’s a whole bunch of stuff out there that never happened at the dome, as I think America’s beginning to find out, slowly.â€Â
(h/t Cathy Young)
Somebody forget to close a blockquote?
Anyone else sick and fucking tired of “pushbacks”? If you’re in a position where you need to push back, then you’re on the defensive; the battle’s already half-lost.
Let me know when they pushforward starts.
Jeff: If I can make one post-Katrina comment, in addition to the many I posted here during the early aftermath, I kept my sanity by never turning on the television news coverage of the disaster, except for some overnight C-Span coverage of press conferences by public officials–Army CofE, a Congressional delegation, et.al.
I learned, due to the ‘round the clock coverage in the aftermath of 9/11, that the media cannot report with any perspective or balance. The constant drumbeat of bad, terrible, and worse wears down the capability to make judgements about any of the happenings, and the responses thereto. And usually the first reports are wrong.
I’d recommend turning off your television when the next disaster strikes. It’ll save you from the ensuing emotional rollercoaster.
…pretty much anything for me now. Even sports. After all the mileage ESPN got being outraged over the use of steroids in baseball, they apparently have no problem keeping a crackhead on the payroll. The whole bunch suck.
Note to self: when you make a joke post using a fake name, remember to change it back when posting again.^^
Hey, TD, I guess I should’ve added, turn the mute on when watching sports, and read the newspaper for final scores. Sportscenter isn’t worth the time wasted watching the same highlight clips in three different program segments or formats.
And they lied when they said that we’d be met by flower-tossing natives cheering us for their liberty when we invaded New Orleans!
The funny part is? Cindy Sheehan actually did argue that the military was “occupying” New Orleans.
Though nobody was really listening to her so much as they were staring at her signature floppy hat.
And by “nobody,” I mean, of course, me.
Yes, indeed. As we say in medicine, in the vacuum of scientific uncertainty, emotion rapidly fills the void. Because, ya know, nature abhors a vacuum.
I was watching “the millions more march” speeches and a black woman journalist came up to speak and basically said what this article said except she didn’t blame the media. Noooo… she blamed us. That’s right. You and me. For believing it! How dare we believe the AP, ABC, NBC, CBC, CNN, and Fox News????? It was racist is what it was. If they had reported such nonsense say..in Kansas, we wouldn’t have believed it for a moment. But because New Orleans was riddled with gangs, drugs, and poverty (and a large black population to boot) We believed it and we are racist because of it.
Now I took most things I read and heard those first few days with a grain of salt. Nothing they said about Nagin and Blanco and Bush were true. Why believe anything else?
It was a low moment in journalism, which has had it’s share of low moments, but accusing people of being racist for believing the news was a new one on me.
Stupid maybe, but not racist.
So, Red State, what you’re saying is that the media can’t tell the difference between first-hand (eye-witness) reports, and second-hand (gossip) reports.
Comforting, no?
And amongst all this confusion, they demand that “both” sides of the “story” be reported. (See earlier thread re: Iraq reporting.)
Isn’t that how credible medical reporting works, you report the scientific facts along side the science fiction, so as to report both “sides” and therefore have a balanced story, yes?
Uh.
Bush lied?
(/s)
Again….we do not have any reporters!! Reporters report facts….straight up, no mixer, neat, no ice. Name me one today, anywhere. What you have is a bunch of “on air personalities” that want to be stars. They now report unverified rumors as fact with no disclaimer – because the “other guy” will report it if they don’t.
Posture, preen and pontificate. The three P’s for success on the air. Forget about the four W’s.
By “nobody” I thought you meant me. But then I never even noticed her hat.
i was in louisiana for about a month with the Pa national gaurd. we got there about a week after the storm, and i spent 10 of those days roughly 5 miles from the 9th ward, which was supposed to be the worst area crime-wise. we were issued our weapons, our tactical vests with ballistice plates, and ammo. thankfully, we never used any of it. while we did have a small number of shots fired in our area, none of them seemed to be fired at us. it was so calm when we left that the second iteration of troops was seriously debating even handing out weapons. the chicken little scenarios put forth by so many simply didn’t happen
Thank you for your service, sir.
I can’t believe I’m posting on the same board as Tom Daschle. Damn.
I mean I didn’t vote for you and I was the one on Lucianne calling you Tom Douchebag but ..
Can I have your autograph?
Seventeen comments and still no Pierre. Curious, that, for a guy who JUST WANTED TO GET THE TRUTH OUT!
Anyone flacked by Jonah Goldberg can’t be all bad.
I flack him whenever I can get around to it. He flames me back pretty good too.
That guy really hates post-modernists. He actually wrote an articel blaming the 9-11 attacks on post-modernists.
I tried to explain to him that a theory of literary criticism doesn’t have much to do with terrorism, but he isn’t buying….
What’s this? Random trolling?
Christ, are you Mobys even trying anymore?
I’m not exactly sure about the comment made by Sheehan, however, the military IS currently occupying my city. I spend my mornings in line at the coffee shop with soldiers wearing flack jackets and sporting M-16s (seems like overkill, but whatever—I’m usually in a t-shirt). There are countless military Humvees roaming the streets. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one to complain. They are protecting the part of the city that didn’t get destroyed by the levee breaks (which I’m happy to be living in). But, to insinuate that New Orleans is not an “occupied” city is just wrong.
Regarding the helicopters that were fired upon … there have been investigations by all of the concerned branches of military, the FBI, and local officials. As of today, there is no proof that a helicopter was ever fired upon, ever. I’m not doubting that there was gunfire in the city. I’m quite certain that there were both military and police snipers that took out some people in this city. I hope that they took out some of the drug dealers that roamed our streets. But, there’s no evidence of helicopters being fired upon.
New Orleans is a strange place to be living right now. It feels like another country—even more than it did before Katrina.
Thomas: Why do you suppose that the troops are still here? We can’t get many straight answers. Is the police force understaffed that badly? Ok, let’s assume that the police force is 1/2 of what it was before. The city’s population is less than 1/2 of what it was before. Also, why are the troops walking around with M-16s? Don’t they have anything smaller they can carry? I saw a Humvee the other day with 4 guys, all wearing flack jackets and helmets! Jesus—it was almost 80 degrees. I was wearing a t-shirt. I was afraid they knew something I didn’t! Military orders I suspect?
Anyway, thanks for being here. The local people really do appreciate your presence. Now if we could just get rid of the people from Texas and Alabama. They are some rude ass drivers.
i really don’t have an answer as to why they were wearing flack jackets…it could be something as simple as an over-zealous commanding officer.
the majority of soldiers are issued an m-16 as their only weapon, so no, we don’t really have anything smaller. not every soldier is issued a 9mm pistol
the city had a drastically undersized police force to begin with, only about 1300 officers, and let’s not forget the new orleans police force didn’t have the best reputation for serving the public interest.
finally, a police force is not equipped to deal with a total breakdown of infrastructure and order. police enforce the law based on mutual respect, the social contract. when ppl stop respecting or trusting the police, the have little authority. the military enforces order based on “we have a much bigger stick to smack you with” i don’t know why they’re still there other than that the city has not recovered to the point where the civilian authorities can handle things