From the Los Angeles Times:
The media inaccuracies had consequences in the disaster zone.
Bush, of the National Guard, said that reports of corpses at the Superdome filtered back to the facility via AM radio, undermining his struggle to keep morale up and maintain order.
“We had to convince people this was still the best place to be,” Bush said. “What I saw in the Superdome was just tremendous amounts of people helping people.”
But, Bush said, those stories received scant attention in newspapers or on television.
Good news receiving scant attention in newspapers or on television? Imagine that.
The reporters did not spare their newspaper criticism either:
The Los Angeles Times adopted a breathless tone the next day in its lead news story, reporting that National Guard troops “took positions on rooftops, scanning for snipers and armed mobs as seething crowds of refugees milled below, desperate to flee. Gunfire crackled in the distance.”
Each news organization needs to examine its own coverage in a similar way. The media must correct the record.
See also:
N.O. Times-Pic Report Contradicts Previous Reporting
Reader: Correspondents Got Too Close to the Story
Col. Thomas Beron Discusses Exaggerated News Reports on “DaySide”
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