This has really got to stop. I understand it's a slow week in the news room, but to make absurd predictions depicting New Orleans as a toxic wasteland and comparing the loss of 67 lives to the tsunami earlier this year, the media has acted disgracefully. Am I the only one that feels as if the press is actually disappointed that a major catastrophe was avoided?

8/30/2005 9:34:23 AM

i'm kinda disappointed...

8/30/2005 9:35:40 AM

We were talking about this at work today. It's kind of sickening how the media will find a person who has just lost their family, their home, and all of their belongs, and then stick a microphone in their face and say "How does it feel?".

8/30/2005 11:01:42 AM

sensationalism sells...

8/30/2005 11:01:43 AM

Before the storm, Shepherd Smith of FoxNews was on the phone in line at the superdome... he asked a guy what his plans were and the guy says, on international TV: "None of your fucking business."

they said fuck on fox.

8/30/2005 11:02:47 AM

what happened to new orleans?

8/30/2005 11:03:03 AM

this shouldn't surprise you - "the media" always hopes for a large scale disaster. I say "the media" because I doubt that many of the individual reporters and journalists actually wish harm to people and property; But the institite as a whole? hell yeah - bring on the carnage!

8/30/2005 11:06:50 AM

Look at all the news channels on your tv. 10 years ago NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and PBS were plenty. Now that the media have their own channels (cnn,msnbc,foxnews,etc) they have all this tv time to fill. The only way they seem to get ratings is by showing depressing tragedies. Its how the channels survive. Performing a public service such as the "news" is not one of their priorities and hasn't been for quite a while.

8/30/2005 11:13:29 AM

State of Fear

8/30/2005 11:14:11 AM

I don't think the media shouldn't cover this kind of stuff. It's important to keep the country up to date on what is going on in places they might not normally hear about otherwise. It helps educate people as to how bad these storms can be. The media can also help get people motivated to donate time or money to relief funds to help out the victims.

However, they need to do it with a little more compassion. Forcibly trying to interview a person who is still in emotionaly shock from losing family, belongings, and who knows what else is wrong. I know that is what gets ratings, but the media needs to stick to reporting the facts in situations like this or at least asking for volunteers for interviews instead of running up to someone randomly and shoving a mic in their mouth.

8/30/2005 11:14:36 AM

yeah its ridiculous.

especially since my office is all women.

all they have talked about all day is the old guy who let go of his wife and she drowned or something.

im like "damn fool should have gone to a shelter, what did he think happens in a hurricane?"

they hate me.

8/30/2005 11:15:20 AM

as long as american idol continues to get higher ratings than state of the union addresses, the media will continue to act and report this way

8/30/2005 11:16:37 AM

Most of the loss of life will occur after the initial storm, and yes lots and lots of people are going to die from water born disease and other problems associated with not having running water. This will probably end up being one of the most damaging storms in both loss of life and property damage. I bet NO will be uninhabitable for months.

Ivan from a year ago wasn't quite as bad and a lot of places still have not been rebuilt in Pensacola. In fact in that case the media kind of down played how bad it was. My parents are STILL homeless from that one.

8/30/2005 11:18:10 AM

Grapehead you work with a lot of women too, I feel your pain bro, the women in my office think I am heartless but I mean, Jesus they were telling people to evacuate if they couldn't afford to leave at least go to a shelter.

8/30/2005 11:18:36 AM

i have some startling news for you lot

the media takes no Hippocratic oath

even if it did

it/they'd still be capitalists

as a whole, it isn't liberal or conservative

although individuals who gravitate to the industry may be


in the end, like everything else, it needs to make a buck




but yeah, i agree, this is no tsunami-level event

the big one that breaks of California, that'll be a big deal

8/30/2005 11:19:30 AM

its disgusting.

i love the way they hide behind the "we're just trying to help the families involved by raising awareness" defense too..


Comparing this to the tsunami is ridiculous.

Almost as ridiculous as the woman on WRAL awhile back when that plant in Kinston blew up.

Quote :

" It was just like 9/11 all over again"

How in the fuck can you compare a random explosion that killed like 3 people to the largest terrorist activity ever on US soil.

8/30/2005 11:19:30 AM

the only thing i watch on TV these days is Battlestar Galactica.

And sometimes Mad Money. That shits pretty awesome. If there was more stuff like that i might watch these news channels.

8/30/2005 11:21:57 AM

Grapehead and BigPapa, I'm a girl and I totally agree with you guys. Yes, it's sad people died, but the ones that were told, ORDERED even, to evacuate but stayed anyway are stupid. Not only do they die, but they put the the police and EMS who have to come rescue them at risk. It's actually rather selfish when you think about it.

As I said in the lounge thread, no one should die in a hurricane. If people are told to evacuate, they should. If they're not being evacuates, they still shouldn't go out for a nice Sunday drive in the middle of the storm. I just don't understand their thought process.

8/30/2005 12:22:16 PM

^

Not everyone has cars and the luxuries most of the US is afforded. Some of these were ignorant people that stayed around, but a lot of them were too sick or didn't have the transportation. A lot of what has been shown thus far is in poorer areas.

8/30/2005 1:20:25 PM

They had places to evacuate to, like the Superdome in New Orleans. Those people may not have been comfortable, but they were safe. In a storm of this magnitude, they travel the streets looking for any leftover people before the storm so that the sick, etc aren't left behind.

And it's one thing if the people didn't have a lot of notice, that does happen sometimes. But you know the people I'm talking about. The stubborn jerks that don't leave because they want to "ride it out." It happens with the wildfires too. No property is worth risking your life for

8/30/2005 2:11:06 PM

Quote :

"Not everyone has cars and the luxuries most of the US is afforded. Some of these were ignorant people that stayed around, but a lot of them were too sick or didn't have the transportation. A lot of what has been shown thus far is in poorer areas."

I am sure the rescue teams would have rather airlifted them before the carnage than after.

8/30/2005 2:14:06 PM

http://suburbia75.blogspot.com/2005/08/dealing-with-aftermath.html

8/30/2005 5:26:55 PM

http://thepoliticalteen.com/video/fbombshep.mov

Here's the f-bomb on fox

8/30/2005 5:31:46 PM

lol

that was funny

8/30/2005 5:50:05 PM

Does anyone have the clip of shepherd smith saying "blow job" by accident when talking about j lo?

That clip is fucking hilarious.

8/30/2005 5:51:02 PM

WEATHER VS. MISSING BLONDE GIRL!

8/30/2005 7:06:33 PM

ahahaha
shepherd smith acts like a little bitch

oh wait
he is

8/30/2005 9:12:13 PM

fucking press

8/31/2005 9:36:04 AM

JESUS CHRIST PEOPLE


Ok, look... I've got a friend who's entire family is from New Orleans. They all got out, except from his sister, who is a nurse, so she stayed to work at a hospital. According to him, New Orleans is in MUCH WORSE condition than the media is letting us know. I don't know if it's just the limits of televised reporting or what, but I don't think the media is being "sensationalist" about it.

In fact, I was watching CNN yesterday, and they were showing the evacuation of two children from a roof via a chopper. They were in a basket by themselves being hoisted up to the chopper, and the basket starts spinning wildly in the middle of the air... well, instead of showing it, CNN decided to cut to another scene, and then, minutes later, reported that those children made it to the chopper safely, and then showed the video. I was impressed.

8/31/2005 9:51:55 AM

well go take a look at the front page of CNN.com right now.

Quote :

"> BREAKING NEWS As many as 110 dead in Mississippi due to Hurricane Katrina; death toll expected to climb, emergency official tells CNN. Details soon."

that's breaking news? We already had confirmed 70+ people dead and new there would inevitably be dozens more, and now that it's up to 110 we have to put a giant red bar across the top?



and ^ - I don't know if you need to give anyone props or credit for not showing what potentially could have been 2 children falling from a helicoptor. Even with all these wild police chases, if it's apparent someone is going to get shot or killed, they'll try pull away. As sensationalist as they are, I don't think they are ready to show people dying live on TV yet....

[Edited on August 31, 2005 at 10:36 AM. Reason : .]

8/31/2005 10:31:17 AM

the breaking news is that is MISSISSIPPI

you know, the state that has been almost ignored in this whole process

8/31/2005 10:34:23 AM

I don't think that the bulk of the carnage unleashed by this hurricane has even been realized. Entire towns were literally wiped off the map by this thing. To have a city the size of New Orleans completely flooded is a massive disaster. The body count is low right now because the rescuers are too busy trying to save the living. This is a really nasty mess.

8/31/2005 11:23:48 AM

Quote :

"I say "the media" because I doubt that many of the individual reporters and journalists actually wish harm to people and property"

ahahahahah "journalists" bwahahahah....yeah lots of "journalists" still around nowadays

in all seriousness though, New Orleans is fucked...the situation is not as bad as the tsunami as far as the number of deaths and the numbers of homes lost, but its similar in that a natural disaster, and a large storm surge wave, fucked up lots of coastal areas, killing and drowning people, destroying homes, flooding towns and areas...and then the lack of food and water and flushing toilets, etc...its bad off

8/31/2005 12:27:44 PM

and you better damn believe that this disaster is going to affect us in MANY more ways than the tsunami in asia did.

8/31/2005 1:02:54 PM

Yeah, like another economic slump or something.

8/31/2005 1:11:49 PM

Also, don't forgot all the water born disease that happens. You couldn't swim in the Atlantic for quite a while due to hurricane fran flooding. Imagine being under water and in the mouth of something like that.

Hopefully they don't have as many pig farms as we do

8/31/2005 1:31:00 PM

Comparing this to the tsunami really doesn't bother me. Even though the scope of death is much less (because of evacuation), the aftermath is similar. I keep hearing them comparing the aftermath of the storm to Hiroshima, and that does bother me, because it is a completely different beast.

I've watched quite a bit of coverage (procrastination) and so far I've only heard one guy, an environmentalist who wrote a book about what would happen if the levees failed, state what no one else is willing to. IF they rebuild New Orleans, this is how it needs to be done for better protection. As an engineer, I recognize that the people trying to fix the situation are only human, and it is a big fucking problem which will take quite a bit of time and logistics to fix.

8/31/2005 2:24:02 PM

It is private property. If they want to rebuild that is between them and their insurance company which, BTW, is probably going to revoke coverage.

Of course, we also need to do away with Federal Flood Insurance, etc. etc.

8/31/2005 2:50:29 PM

hopefully katrina washed away all the scum of society living in N.O (i.e hobos etc)

8/31/2005 3:09:32 PM

I saw a piece on CNN yesterday where they were trying to explain the motivation of people to loot.

They actually had a reporter walking up to looters and asking "Excuse me sir, why are you looting?"

9/1/2005 11:01:47 AM

Does it really even matter if they are looting? Food and clothes may benefit them, but what the hell are they going to do with a bunch of electronics? Ask the helicopter to take them on board as they are getting airlifted out?

9/1/2005 12:00:04 PM

^ It does matter because if you allow a lawless situation to exist, it's only going to grow worse. There are already reports of armed banditry, idiots shooting at rescue helicopters, and firefights between the police and looters near the Superdome. If you don't nip this in the bud now, it'll only spin further out of control and become much more difficult to evacuate people and bring in supplies, let alone try and restore order down the road.

9/1/2005 1:15:02 PM

New orleans is starting to sound a lot like iraq

9/1/2005 1:32:14 PM

^ Yea, strange that. I guess humans are still human, after all.

9/1/2005 1:54:27 PM

so does the original post in this thread still stand?

9/1/2005 1:55:43 PM

pwnt.

9/1/2005 3:06:35 PM

i've been looking for a good way of putting that for 2 days now

i guess pwnt works

9/1/2005 3:07:10 PM

Quote :

"New orleans is starting to sound a lot like iraq"

Quote :

"Gunmen target medical convoy NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- New Orleans' Charity Hospital halted efforts to evacuate its patients after it came under sniper fire, according to Dr. Tyler Curiel, who witnessed the incidents. The attack came as New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued "a desperate SOS" for the thousands of people stranded in an around the city's convention center with no food or water and fading hope. Curiel and his National Guard escorts, were returning to the hospital after dropping off patients at nearby Tulane Medical Center, when someone started shooting at their convoy of Humvees. "We were coming in from a parking deck at Tulane Medical Center, and a guy in a white shirt started firing at us," Curiel said. "The National Guard (troops), wearing flak jackets, tried to get a bead on this guy. " The incident happened around 11:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. ET). About an hour later, another gunman opened fire at the back of Charity Hospital. "We got back to Charity Hospital with with food from Tulane and we said, 'OK the snipers are behind us, let's move on,'" Curiel said. "We started loading patients (for transport) and 20 minutes later, shots rang out.""

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.impact/index.html

9/1/2005 3:17:18 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that tantamount to treason?

9/1/2005 3:39:01 PM

oh it's 100% terror, that's for sure

9/1/2005 3:57:28 PM