Oprah's Show 2-21-2006: Update on Kristina

There has been alot of discussion on Roadfood.com about New Oleans after Katrina. Opeah is suppose to give an update on her show onn 2-21-2006

The Oprah show hasn't aired yet, so perhaps I'm out of turn, however.... it seems that the majority of "Katrina updates" focus on nawlin's. "Kat" destroyed a humongous swath of the gulf coast and thousands of square miles inland that are seldom shown. People get jaded over the New Orleans coverage and don't think of the rest of the area.

quote:

Originally posted by dreamzpainter

The Oprah show hasn't aired yet, so perhaps I'm out of turn, however.... it seems that the majority of "Katrina updates" focus on nawlin's. "Kat" destroyed a humongous swath of the gulf coast and thousands of square miles inland that are seldom shown. People get jaded over the New Orleans coverage and don't think of the rest of the area.

I Agree with you!

I haven't seen the show yet either, it comes on in about 65 minutes here.

Please tell me you don't really rely on Oprah for your news updates.
The Mississippi Gulf Coast was hit actually harder than NO. The difference , at least one of them, is that we tend not to whine so much, but get down to work on what has to be done. There has been a lot of help from all over the country, a lot from faith based groups.
My friend from Pass Christian has wonderful things to say about the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Mennonites, in particular.

The evening news on NBC runs a segment every night on their evening brodcast, and to their credit have been doing so for months. Chow Jim

She did another show on location yesterday also.

She, with sponsors like Target and Habitat for Humanity, gave new furnished homes to hundreds of people/families.

I lived on the MS Gulf Coast for several years in the 90s.

It's still chaotic there - and may never return to what I remember it as.

Don't mess with Mother Nature...

Oprah Okra flips between do good stuff and teenage hookers is Utah or the like.

I try to get a well rounded look at the news, surfing the various shows regardless of polictical slant, FNC,CNN,CNNH,CNBC on cable and the local news channels as well as the local paper and this one eyed monster in front of me. I may be wrong but it seems that 3/4's or more of the coverage is about NewOrleans. It is a major landmark of the area with world wide recognition and that's probably the main reason but I have said from the start there needs to be more coverage of other areas, I have my suspicions why but they are not for this forum...

Kristina ?

The main stream media is slanted to the left.

So while the poor helpless survivors who remained in New Orleans despite the storm warnings and mandatory evacuation orders - were waiting for their government subsidies that come at the end of the month...

People in Mississippi are not as helpless and downtrodden - so they don't carry the sensationalism that the Big Easy folks do...

quote:

Originally posted by BearHit

The main stream media is slanted to the left.

So while the poor helpless survivors who remained in New Orleans despite the storm warnings and mandatory evacuation orders - were waiting for their government subsidies that come at the end of the month...

People in Mississippi are not as helpless and downtrodden - so they don't carry the sensationalism that the Big Easy folks do...

Leaving aside the question of media bias, I keep hearing this and I've always thought it was nonsense. We all know that the rural areas along the Gulf Coast got trashed too, but in this country it's usual to think in terms of cities. That's because when most people travel, they travel from city to city and so far more people are familiar with and can relate to New Orleans than the surrounding rural country. I recently read about a conference in Palo Alto (40 miles south??) which was described as being in "San Francisco" (sorry Frank). New Orleans is a metaphore for the whole region but nobody forgets that Mississippi got trashed as bad or worse.

quote:

Originally posted by BearHit

The main stream media is slanted to the left.

So while the poor helpless survivors who remained in New Orleans despite the storm warnings and mandatory evacuation orders - were waiting for their government subsidies that come at the end of the month...

People in Mississippi are not as helpless and downtrodden - so they don't carry the sensationalism that the Big Easy folks do...

Virtually all national reporters in sports and politics have spent time in New Orleans and most are fond of the city. There are also stations representing all the major networks in New Orleans so there is an infrastructure there. And the destruction and reconstruction of a major American city that virtually all Americans are aware of is big news.

quote:

Originally posted by mr chips

quote:

Originally posted by BearHit

The main stream media is slanted to the left.

So while the poor helpless survivors who remained in New Orleans despite the storm warnings and mandatory evacuation orders - were waiting for their government subsidies that come at the end of the month...

People in Mississippi are not as helpless and downtrodden - so they don't carry the sensationalism that the Big Easy folks do...

Virtually all national reporters in sports and politics have spent time in New Orleans and most are fond of the city. There are also stations representing all the major networks in New Orleans so there is an infrastructure there. And the destruction and reconstruction of a major American city that virtually all Americans are aware of is big news.

There's something else I thought of while reading your post. If the National news team that is covering the story, covers a story that is in the Greater New Orleans area they are not ever far away from a good place to eat, a good Hotel and/or a airport. All of these things make it a nicer palce to do a story about. I mena nicer in conviences for the news teams.

quote:

Originally posted by BearHit

The main stream media is slanted to the left.

So while the poor helpless survivors who remained in New Orleans despite the storm warnings and mandatory evacuation orders - were waiting for their government subsidies that come at the end of the month...

People in Mississippi are not as helpless and downtrodden - so they don't carry the sensationalism that the Big Easy folks do...

Yet the state of Mississippi inevitably comes close to dead last in a whole host of national metrics: very high percentage living below the poverty line, high percentage of people with minimal level of education, low level of basic health care, etc.

And it looks like Trent Lott will surely take advantage of federal monies to rebuild his home.

People in glass houses...

True, the news has focused primarily on New Orleans. I did see a moving report where one station (CNN?) sent and anchor back to her own town to stay for awhile and film herself looking for friends and visiting the wreckage of her old neighborhood. I think it was Mississippi?

But I have to respond to the false premise insinuated above that everyone COULD leave New Orleans.

New Orleans had a fantastic public transportation system, and as a result, many people there did not own cars, even if they could afford them. And remember the packed freeways on the news? Some people who wanted to leave COULDN"T leave. Also, some people did not have money for hotels or relatives where they could stay. In addition, some people have said they knew people who died in their cars trying to escape previous hurricanes, and thought their homes would hold up better against the winds. Many people who perished were old and infirm and were abandoned. You cannot fault people for not having the ability to leave. Their mistake seems to be in assuming that the levees would hold. Had the levees not broken, it would be a different story in New Orleans.

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Originally posted by EliseT

...Had the levees not broken, it would be a different story in New Orleans.

Newbie here but just returned from NOLA on catastrophe duty. I have to agree, most (water) damage I saw was caused by levee breaks.