海角大神

Has the national media overlooked the floods in Louisiana?

The Red Cross says the flooding is the worst national disaster since superstorm Sandy. Has the national media been slow to react?

First Look

With 20 parishes declared federal disaster areas, at least 13 people dead and over 30,000 people rescued by emergency responders, flooding has overwhelmed the state of Louisiana. For many locals, the disaster has resurrected memories of hurricane Katrina鈥檚 ravages 鈥� along with feelings of neglect.

This time, their ire seems focused on the national media. Coverage of Katrina and Sandy was lavish, even where the response of authorities left much to be desired. In advance of Sandy's arrival, , the New York Times unveiled a landing page on its website featuring practical information about services for residents in crisis. But this month, even after the National Guard had begun rescuing thousands of people from parishes swallowed by floodwaters, the Times went days without running a single story about the disaster. CNN and other prominent television outlets paid similarly scant attention.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just water that's rising. So is the frustration level of many observers who can't help but notice a key absence amid the tragedy: the national media,鈥� 聽on Aug. 16.

鈥淪uch complaints aren't trivial,鈥� he added. 鈥淎s Louisiana well knows, the loosening of the recovery purse strings is directly commensurate to the number of people who are made aware of the scope of the devastation. In this case, where national news coverage has been scarce, locals have every reason to worry that recovery funds will be just as scarce.鈥�

That same day, Louisiana and FEMA officials expressed dismay at the lack of national coverage of what Gov. John Bel Edwards called 鈥渦nprecedented flood levels.鈥�

"You have the Olympics. You got the election. If you look at the national news, you're probably on the third or fourth page," said FEMA administrator Craig Fugate, according to the Times-Picayune.

A from the New York Times鈥檚 public editor Liz Spayd took stock of the complaints, noting little evidence of on-the-ground reporting, and concluding that her paper鈥檚 coverage had been 鈥減articularly weak.鈥�

鈥淣o doubt this is a busy news period, and the fact that it is August compounds the usual challenges of getting available staff to the site of the news,鈥� wrote Ms. Spayd. 鈥淏ut a news organization like The Times 鈥� rich with resources and eager to proclaim its national prominence 鈥� surely can find a way to cover a storm that has ravaged such a wide stretch of the country鈥檚 Gulf Coast.鈥�

Accusations of a lackluster response have extended to the White House as well. 海角大神 noted on Friday that many in Louisiana and elsewhere had begun to compare President Obama鈥檚 decision not to immediately visit the state to his predecessor鈥檚 notorious handling of Hurricane Katrina. the president will arrive on Tuesday after receiving briefings from Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson, who made an earlier visit to the region.

One reason for the lack of attention from the press 鈥� though perhaps no excuse 鈥� may partly explain why so many Louisianans were unprepared.

鈥淚f you had a hurricane forecast and you had a named storm, more people would have been aware of what the risk was,鈥� . 鈥淏ut the weather service opened up a fairly high risk of serious flooding. It just was hard to say how deep it was going to be. And nobody, I think, was prepared for that much rain in that short a time.鈥�