The number of times during the week that I actively consider the situation in New Orleans is exactly once a week. This is primarily due to, “K-Ville“, which airs on FOX television on Monday nights. The show centers around two officers of the New Orleans Police Department, and provides multiple perspectives on what it might be like to live as a Hurricane Katrina survivor. This piece of television entertainment serves as my only reminder (from the media) that things are not right in New Orleans.
The fact that I am only prompted (once a week) by some aspect of the media to consider lending my time and talents to help remedy the situation in New Orleans is borderline comical. Naturally, I could do much more in terms of staying abreast of what is happening (and not), and have done so on multiple occasions. Still, this is not about me — it is about the media.
Why is the media, especially the news media, not providing insight on the federal and local governments progress to rebuild what was lost? In other parts of the world, such as Kenya, the media is a critical voice for the people. I suspect that if the media was constantly broadcasting about the truth in the (lack of) effort in rebuilding New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast states impacted by Katrina, the government would have to address those concerns with action. Instead, our extremely visible and colorful news media outlets continue to pander to the government.
Instead of being constantly bombarded with the entertainment news we are constantly consuming, we should demand news broadcasts that are clueful, authoritative in challenging the government (when the government is not acting in the best interests of the people), and utilize the news media as a platform to rally for positive change (both local and global) when applicable.
Right now, the situation in New Orleans is often labelled as dire. Despite the fact the government has raised billions of dollars to assist with rebuilding the infrastructure in New Orleans, change is not happening fast enough. Until that does, it should be the job of the news media to keep that in the forefront of our minds — and to ensure that the right parties are held accountable for their inaction.
A lot of it has to do with access and money. For the news media, the money comes from advertisers, who in turn get to call shots about what should or should not be covered in the news, at least at more than a cursory inspection.
The bigger issue, especially with regard to government, is access. Reporters need access to officials and insiders to get stories before their colleagues do. Their career survival depends on having a rolodex that’s willing to talk. If a reporter covers a story that’s unpopular or portrays a public figure in a bad light, access to that figure goes away, access to that public figure’s staff goes away, and so does the reporter’s career in the current news environment.
bro, i have much to say on this topic and gotta run to this housing crisis forum (am mad late already). few hints.
thank you for turning me on to k-ville. i’m still watching.
we american citizens have all but lost much of our ability and or will to “demand” changes to our media landscape and programming. the massive corporate interests have a much louder voice here. check out the Enough is Enough campaign to diversify BET, MTV and VH1. folks have to storm executive’s houses.
the biggest driver of this is that the people no longer OWN our media in this country. we have been forced out of the democratic conversation by those with interests not our own (to limit regulation, drive profits, sell products to us).
Media is not so local anymore, and it’s driven by revenue and profit objectives of wholly incongruent businesses like automobiles (GM) and theme parks (disney).
The SYSTEM itself is corrupt and built on perverse incentives that have NOTHING to do with the public interest. The people at CNN are not bad. They are just trying to survive in the world in which they live.
Now we have to go out and change that world before any further demands can be made.
ok, guess that was long. peace
FWIW, Anderson Cooper 360 still does those “Keeping Them Honest” reports on the state of affairs in New Orleans, and he still reports from there at least a couple of times a year. It might have something to do with his family ties to the city, but there is at least one media personality/journalist who is still following the story.
It is a travesty that people are not aware that the Katrina situation is still there and it is not getting any better. I applaud you for bringing this up especially on your blog.
For me, I know a few people who were affected by the Katrina situation and they keep me plugged into what is going on.
In some of the music forums that I am online on mog.com and on last.fm I have been informed through pictures, stories and song of what is going on.
There are voices but it is a matter of being about to bring those voices to the national media.
Let’s keep Katrina in the news! Bless you, Clarence.
Jennifer, in terms of bringing those voices to the national media…I wonder how it can be done, without exploiting those who are living with the situation?
My assumption is that the news media is likely to exploit Katrina survivors, victims, etc — under the guise of getting those stories public.
There are a lot of different sides to this scenario, none of them positive (in terms of how the news media can act as a sounding board). They are the most visible candidate, right?
If not them, then us…but, how do we impact the minds and hearts of everyone that the news media has exposure to 24/7? Marinate.
my girlfriend (being American) wouldn’t like me saying this, but as a non-American your news is seriously like watching Idiocracy sometimes. i have never seen news that is so meant to irritate, inflame, and provoke crossfire. it’s like linkbait for television. it’s nuts.
you should watch The Hour on CBC sometime… it’s “entertainment news,” too, but dude appeals to 20-somethings, interviews Nobel Laureates, and gets across intelligent points the whole time.
all your media do Americans a disservice. that’s why the internet is so awesome.