Disaster Coverage Focus of Journalism Day

Story by Molly Haupt and Asanka De Alwis

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A nation-wide group of journalists and campus educators shared their personal and political insight during Cal State Long Beach's Journalism Day focused on media coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

The April 27 event, in the campus Horn Center , held two panels titled “A Media Report Card” and “Lessons Learned.”

James O'Bryne, the features editor for the 2006 Breaking News Reporting Pulitzer Prize winning New Orleans newspaper, the Times-Picayune , kicked off the “The Media and Katrina: Covering a Catastrophe” event as the keynote speaker.

“As journalists, we keep an arms length distance from our stories. In New Orleans we couldn't do that,” O'Bryne said.

O'Bryne presented a slideshow of Times-Picayune pictures of the inundated city and its residents, taken shortly after the hurricane.

He explained what life was like for himself and staff of reporters and photographers who had just lost much of what they owned but knew the event needed to be covered.

He said some residents believed “the local media arrived so their story could be told.” He also mentioned the unrest of others who criticized the photographers for snapping pictures instead of assisting victims.

Nonetheless, the Times-Picayune won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage and O'Bryne delivered first-hand knowledge to CSULB students on how his paper successfully covered the catastrophe.

The first panel, “Katrina: A Media Report Card,” focused on how well the national media performed in the weeks and months after the biggest natural disaster in U.S. history. It was moderated by CSULB broadcast journalism professor Carla Yarbrough.

The panel included Heather Allan of NBC Nightly News, Susan Feeney of National Public Radio, Scott Gold of the Los Angeles Times , James O'Bryne of the Times-Picayune , and Timothy Caron of the CSULB English Department.

An early topic discussed was the lack of communication between the media, government and the citizens directly affected by the hurricane.

Speaking on the coverage limitations she was constrained to, Allan gave her assessment of problems she faced.

“Could you imagine no power, no telephone, just a big black hole,” Allan said. “There were no sources.”

Gold said the extent of miscommunication led to confusion with hurricane victims in the Louisiana Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center .

“There was one person with a bull horn trying to communicate to 25,000 people,” Gold said. “Messages changed when they were passed down from person to person.”

The discussion then led to the topic of certain media's focus on the social issues following the hurricane.
O'Bryne said he thought that people were taking the easy route by believing the reason the government was slow to react was because the majority of the people affected were black.

Gold admitted that for unknown reasons, many more blacks than whites were left in New Orleans to fend for themselves.

“Katrina was indiscriminate,” Gold said. “Half the people affected were white. The truth is, for a variety of reasons, many more of the former got out than the latter.”

Speaking about the future, O'Bryne said that five years after the tragedy of 9/11, America is still not prepared for any form of disaster.

In contrast, Feeney said that the media is more prepared than society as a whole after the disasters of 9/11 and Katrina.

“This is a story not just about an event but re-opening discussions about race and class,” Gold said.

After lunch and before the next panel discussion, the journalism department held its annual awards presentation .

“Katrina: Lessons Learned,” was the second topic of discussion and moderated by CSULB Journalism professor Chris Burnett. The speakers included Charles Noble, CSULB Political Science Department chairman; Jeff Rose of SignOnSanDiego.com , Matthew Cabot; a CSULB public relations professor, Othman Ramadan, CSULB Katrina seminar student, and once again Susan Feeney of NPR.

Noble began the discussion by saying “The coverage of Katrina broke down the natural disaster as much as the political disaster.” He added he'd like to continue to see that reporting because the disaster is far from over.

The other panel members agreed, as they discussed the political implications that helped to justify why thousands of poverty stricken New Orleans residents had to wait five days to be escorted out of the city.

“In this case, the government fell down and put more responsibility on the media because we could no longer rely on what the government was telling us,” Rose said.

The discussion went from politics, to Internet reporting, to traditional media, and back to politics. The panelists conversed about what preparations California needs to have, public relations tactics the government used in taking blame and pointing fingers, and what a great job much of the media has done on covering the issues.

Ramadan, who spent his spring break rebuilding homes in Louisiana , said he remembered a great TV clip with President George W. Bush telling Michael Brown, former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that he's doing a great job, juxtaposed to homeless, hungry, and helpless New Orleans residents wandering about the streets.

Although audience members were sure to learn from the two panels of discussion, Feeney mentioned as a news editor, she was just as grateful for being a part of the event.

“It's good for the school and students, but it's good for us to be here too,” she said. “It's nice to hear what people are thinking about and factor that in to what we do everyday.”

CSULB print journalism major Megan Goulding was appreciative as well.

“The panel helped raise questions that I'll look into,” she said. “It sparked my interest in balanced news coverage.”

The event ended at 3 p.m. with students introducing themselves to panel members and conversing and snapping pictures with their professors.

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