Re: MS - Mississippians' Suffering Overshadowed

John Lansford wrote:
> "Sherman L. Cahal" <sherman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I have been expecting this kind of response ever since the size and
> scope of the damage began to come out, and noticed that nearly all the
> reporting was coming from New Orleans. No mention of the damage in
> Jackson, Baton Rouge, Hattiesburg, Gulfport, Biloxi, Pascagoula,
> Slidell, or a score of smaller communities, as if they escaped damage
> completely.

Hey, if it is not on the biased television news... it ain't happening.

Seriously though, people take face value what they see on television.
They see all the suffering and all the pain of just _one_ city,
completely ignoring or oblivious to the fact that New Orleans is just
one _small_ part of the 90,000 sq. mi. disaster zone. That's right, its
the size of Kansas ... all being ignored essentially.

Because you don't get ratings reporting elsewhere that is not New
Orleans. Showing sad faces on television or having Nancy Grace on CNN
showing photographs and asking "Have you seen them?" (as if that is
going to help, as there are thousands that are presumed missing) is
what boosts ratings.

> Only just recently has news come out of the coastal cities affected,
> but this article is one of a very few I've seen from damaged inland
> cities. The Weather Channel has sent several of their meterologists
> to cities such as Gulfport and Biloxi, and shown local reporters as
> well, but not much else is getting out.

The Weather Channel is really the only station I see covering places
outside of New Orleans.

> >Until recently, they also had Holly's 75-year-old father, who has a
> >pacemaker and severe diabetes, with them. Finally they got an ambulance
> >to take him to the airport so he could be airlifted to Lafayette, La.,
> >for medical help.
> >
> >In poverty-stricken north Gulfport, Grover Chapman was angry at the
> >lack of aid.
> >
> >"Something should've been on this corner three days ago," Chapman, 60,
> >said Saturday as he whipped up dinner for his neighbors.
> >
> >He used wood from his demolished produce stand to cook fish, rabbit,
> >okra and butter beans he'd been keeping in his freezer.
>
> Sounds like what me and my neighbors did after Hurricane Fran came
> through Raleigh several years ago. Get out the charcoal grills and
> start cooking all the meat that is thawing out.

They made the best of the situation :-)

> >Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist, said he's
> >been watching hours of Katrina coverage every day and most of the
> >national media attention has focused on the devastation and looting in
> >New Orleans.
> >
> >"Mississippi needs more coverage," Sabato said. "Until people see it on
> >TV, they don't think it's real."

> BINGO. Everyone is focused on New Orleans as if the worst of the
> damage is there. IT IS NOT. The buildings are still standing for the
> most part, and although much of the city was flooded much of it was
> not. But, the forced evacuation story has sucked all the reporters
> into the city because it is easy to get to and easy to report on,
> leaving the more difficult story spread out over most of Mississippi
> and Alabama to be ignored.

It's easier to go where the ratings are. Where do you think your
ratings are going to be at? Someplace in bumfuck Mississippi or
Alabama, or the "unprepared", "lawless", and "desperate" New Orleans?
Sickening that the news media tries to capatalize on ratings in this
manner.

Oh well, at least it is fun to watch Fox News reporters cry on camera
and Cooper Anderson yell at people. :-P

> >Keisha Moran has been living in a tent in a department store parking
> >lot in Bay St. Louis with her boyfriend and three young children since
> >the hurricane struck. She said National Guardsmen have brought her
> >water but no other aid so far, and she was furious that it took Bush
> >several days before he came to see the damage in Mississippi.
> >
> >"It's how many days later? How many people are dead?" Moran said.
> >
> >Mississippi's death toll from Hurricane Katrina stood at 144 on
> >Saturday, according to confirmed reports from coroners and the
> >Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Barbour had said Friday the
> >total was 147, but he didn't provide a county-by-county breakdown.
> >
> >In a strongly worded editorial, The Sun Herald of Biloxi-Gulfport
> >pleaded for help and questioned why a massive National Guard presence
> >wasn't already visible.
> >
> >"We understand that New Orleans also was devastated by Hurricane
> >Katrina, but surely this nation has the resources to rescue both that
> >metropolitan (area) and ours," the newspaper editorialized, saying
> >survival basics like ice, gasoline and medicine have been too slow to
> >arrive.
> >
> >"We are not calling on the nation and the state to make life more
> >comfortable in South Mississippi, we are calling on the nation and the
> >state to make life here possible," the paper wrote.
>
> Where are Mississippi's National Guardsmen? I should hope they are
> not being sent to New Orleans when their own state is suffering. More
> pertinent, however, is where are the Federal response teams?

Going to New Orleans of course! If they didn't, then you would have all
the bitching that they were getting "ignored." Because thats where all
the media is at and they have to look good.

> John Lansford, PE

Let's keep this constructive replys going :-)

.

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