BBC editorial: Viewpoint: Has Katrina saved US media?
As President Bush scurries back to the Gulf Coast, it is clear that this is the greatest challenge to politics-as-usual in America since the fall of Richard Nixon in the 1970s.
Then as now, good reporting lies at the heart of what is changing.
But unlike Watergate, "Katrinagate" was public service journalism ruthlessly exposing the truth on a live and continuous basis.
Instead of secretive "Deep Throat" meetings in car-parks, cameras captured the immediate reality of what was happening at the New Orleans Convention Center, making a mockery of the stalling and excuses being put forward by those in power.
Amidst the horror, American broadcast journalism just might have grown its spine back, thanks to Katrina.
There's more... interesting stuff....
I hope the article is right....
I just found this on a list I follow but am way behind on. I don't think it has already been posted here. It's on the significance of New Orleans as a port to the economy of the US and the world: [link]
A state governor, the mayor of one of the nation's largest cities, and the previous President have now called out those in charge for their incompetence and apathy, and multiple news sources are picking the tone up and running with it as it becomes clearer that this is the way the public is leaning. I don't think the press is going to back down from this one.
We'll never take aid from Cuba. It would be admitting the failure of our government to take care of its own.
It's become rather a source of embarrassment, in fact. We're all having to face people who are like, "You're the richest country in the world and you can't handle this? Tiny economies are giving your aid money back to you?" This is usually followed up with a few points about how if we weren't spending all this money in Iraq.
On the other hand, we've backed off our original stance, directed from DC, of accepting no foreign aid whatsoever.
The Cuba thing, though...we can't verify that they are in fact doctors, and the Castro administration has tried in the past to send us people from their jails. So there's a possibility that "1100 doctors" means "1100 folks we want out of our prisons."
Yeah. The Cuba situation is messy enough that I wouldn't blame Bush for turning down this one. One of the very few things I don't blame him for this last week.
So there's a possibility that "1100 doctors" means "1100 folks we want out of our prisons."
I suppose we could test them first: "Here - perform an appendectomy on this guy. Points will be deducted for infection, failing to close the incision, uglier than usual scars, removing the wrong organ, or death."
Yeah. The line for volunteer testees starts over there ----->
Cuba DOES have a lot of unemployed doctors. You read those articles about how professionals in Havana turn tricks to make ends meet...
Sighh...
So sad. It's all so fucking sad.
I can't play the video of Olbermann right now; is it the same as this entry in his blog?
multiple news sources are picking the tone up and running with it
That and journalists were
right there.
I don't know how many reporters I saw crying on air. They were letting people use their cell phones, flagging down ambulances and doing what they could to help. They're as pissed as the rest of us.
