Journalistic Low in NOLA

I've seen a couple very poor reports on the idiot box about the reporting of rumors and the like by the MSM during Katrina. (The report on the Abrams Report was pathetic. Abrams spent more time patting the press on the back than actually looking at reports based on nothing but rumors. The transcript isn't out at this time but I'll link it up when it's out.)

Following days of internationally reported murders, rapes and gang violence inside the stadium, the doctor from FEMA — Beron doesn't remember his name came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.

"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalled the doctor saying.

The real total?

Six, Beron said.

AND

The vast majority of reported atrocities committed by evacuees mass murders, rapes and beatings— have turned out to be false, or at least unsupported by any evidence, according to key military, law-enforcement, medical and civilian officials in positions to know.

The MSM as expected are defending their reporting as appropriate. Personally, I didn't see any news agency that didn't have some reporter flipping out over the situation. Aren't journalists supposed to report on the facts? Maybe I'm holding the bar too high?

Of course there is the other side with the Talk Show Queen reporting on her show.

In interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Compass reported rapes of "babies," and Mayor Ray Nagin spoke of "hundreds of armed gang members killing and raping people" inside the Dome. Other unidentified evacuees told of children stepping over so many bodies "we couldn't count."

The picture that emerged was one of the impoverished, overwhelmingly African-American masses of flood victims resorting to utter depravity, randomly attacking each other, as well as the police trying to protect them and the rescue workers trying to save them. The mayor told Winfrey the crowd has descended to an "almost animalistic state."

But at least here position is defensable. She was interviewing people, some of whom should have known better. Compass is one of them. Probably fortunate for the city, he resigned yesterday. If you're the local police authority, you shouldn't be putting out rumors as fact. That makes you look stupid, not to mention makes the citizens of your area look like animals.

Which gets me to this point:

"I think 99 percent of it is [expletive]," said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Lachney, who played a key role in security and humanitarian work inside the Dome. "Don't get me wrong bad things happened. But I didn't see any killing and raping and cutting of throats or anything ... 99 percent of the people in the Dome were very well-behaved."

The vast majority of people were well-behaved. But would you have gotten that from the reports at the time? I don't think so. And the rest of the world now only knows rumors that were reported as truth and have made a judgement on the US overall based on those rumors. Unfortunately now the poor of NOLA are branded unjustly with being "animalistic" because the mayor and his ilk couldn't keep their mouths shut.

But then, the crowds screaming and wailing at the cameras didn't help their case either. To some extent I can understand them being anxious to get assistance, but they were no where near starvation, and the only real threat was that of disease. I just don't understand the atraction to play for the camera, though this seems to be the reality of existance whether here or in NOLA or Iraq.

Oh, and back to the Abrams Report, here is a bit of mighty whining from his "blawg about justice" on scapegoating the media. Get this:

The latest so-called controversy comes now that the superdome and convention center have finally been cleared out. Officials say only 10 bodies were found— far fewer than many expected. This after the total death toll in New Orleans was far lower than the 10,000 some had predicted.

Rather than celebrating the news, some officials are trying to justify their inaction by pinning the blame on the never quite defined "media." It is particularly ironic when some of the same people who should have acted earlier - response teams, local and federal officials — are saying, "They reported rumors and exaggeration," "They failed to confirm reports etc."

The pictures speak for themselves. Are they suggesting this was somehow not a humanitarian disaster? The FEMA director found out about the lack of food and water from the media! But for the media and the public outcry, those numbers would have been higher. Without broadcasting those devastating photos from the superdome and the convention center, it's unclear how long it would have taken before someone in a position of authority actually responded. Yet today I heard one Congressman complain about the "hysteria of the media coverage"”?

This is laughable at best. Is he actually trying to tell us that FEMA wasn't doing anything and that they only began to react due to the media? What?! Now he's posturing the MSM as the heros of the disaster. As to the histeria of the media coverage, I saw any reporter on the scene flipping out. Some making blatant political rants against the present administration. You don't call that hysteria?

He also seems to miss that by reporting rumors that some agencies did react to those reports and sent resources to places that had no problems. His report last night even pointed to police resources being sent to areas where reported (aka rumored) viloence was going on.

You can read the rest. This his stance is just laughable.