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Disclosure: I am a member of the media. I am a member of the media in a hurricane prone area. I filed some national reports right before Katrina hit about storm swell and how that works. The week after, we were hit by Ophelia.
When Katrina was hitting, I had a feed from NOLA police scanners. I heard the first report of a broken levee three hours after the storm hit. Suddenly there was this great hue and cry about "reactionary" reports of levees breaking.
In the superdome, I don't know about other media, but we had nothing on the air claiming that many were dying. In fact, for most of the week, our network said, "two deaths, and old man and woman".
If the supposed left wing media was generating hysteria, then Shep Smith and Bill O'Reilly were the number "liberals", followed by Diane Sawyer. How much of a loony left winger is Sawyer? Why, she's so liberal she worked for that left wing Nixon!
The official count means nothing, though it is the largest modern day loss of life. It means nothing because hundreds more are missing. The volume of children missing is - for our modern, up to date country - earth shattering.
I applaud Bush for firing Brownie. But I don't apologize for one thing our staff of educated, award winning professionals reported. There is not one damn thing that was not factual.
Keep in mind, when you bash the media, you bash the system that will give you the information you need when devestation is at YOUR door. Critique, but don't bash just because you're a hater.
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I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet
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