Truth Begins to Emerge From the Wreckage

It has taken some time, but it appears that America has caught its breath following the mad dash away from Hurricane Katrina. As evidence of this I present the fact that I am finally beginning to see stories such as this one, taking the media to task for its in-the-moment reporting of stuff heard on the street.

Katrina was undoubtedly a distaster--fatal to many; painful to many, many more; and destructive beyond all expectation. But it is now clear (as it always was to those of us who watch with a critical eye) that much of what the media fed to us in the days following landfall was quite far from the truth. But it all made sense at the time, didn't it? There was looting, there were fatalities from rising water, there were nutbags playing sniper with hunting rifles. CNN and Oprah would have had you believe this was the norm, and not the exception. And it doesn't help that the finger-pointing started so early as to result in local, state, and federal officials throwing poorly founded accusations.

The media certainly has a right and, it would argue, a responsibility to report on news as it happens. This must be one of the most challenging situations any reporter can face: there is news happening, but how reliable are the facts at hand? But I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of any mea culpas on the part of the mainstream media outlets. Call me a cynic.