Press Gang

The reason that CNN has been so hard-hitting throughout this Katrina catastrophe, posits one of my more conspiracy-minded pals, is because CNN president Jonathan Klein went off on vacation (scroll to bottom), and wasn't around to make sure the reporters and anchors toadied up to the White House.

Whatever the explanation -- and I doubt it's anything more than the fact that the reporters saw the misery and devastation up close and horrifying -- it worked.

CNN was also the one network to sue for the right to take pictures of the recovery efforts. Rather than fight the legal battle, the federal government capitulated -- as well as it should have. Isn't this the country that invented freedom of the press?

CNN filed suit against Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, arguing that the officials who announced the decision were acting on FEMA's behalf.

"For an agency to unilaterally ban all coverage of a major component of its governmental function, that is, recovery of the deceased victims of the tragedy, is unprecedented," CNN argued in its legal brief. "Instead, the agency has made a subjective, content-based determination that publicizing the operation would be 'without dignity.'"

CNN's brief argued, "It is not the place of government to replace its own internal judgment for that of a free and independent media."

Because of controversy about how FEMA and other agencies handled the disaster response, CNN lawyers argued, "it is even more vitally important for the public, Congress and the administration to have an independent view of the conduct of this important phase of the operation."

Not all news organizations challenged the official line, either legally or journalistically, quite like CNN did. FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) indicts ABC, Fox News and even the New York Times and the Washington Post in a study published here:

Amidst the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, many mainstream journalists seemed to display a skepticism towards official statements and government spinning that has been absent for much of the last five years. While a press corps that openly challenges the political elite would be a positive development, readers and viewers should question why reporters who are demonstrably angry and are covering this story aggressively have been so rarely moved by other events. What if there was widespread media outrage about White House fabrications about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction? What if reporters were similarly outraged by the destruction of Iraqi cities like Fallujah, where civilians who survived the siege had to live without power and drinking water?

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a more aggressive press corps seems to have caught the White House public relations team off-balance-- a situation the White House has not had to face very often in the last five years. Many might wonder why it took reporters so long ...

Speaking of CNN, it can't be coincidental that, of all the news networks to have seen ratings jump during the Katrina coverage, it enjoyed the biggest leap, according to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press.

As occurred after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and during the start of the war in Iraq, the proportion of Americans who cited cable news channels as a main source of news grew dramatically.

In this instance, CNN made the greatest gains. In June, 18% of Americans cited CNN as a source of most of their news about national and international issues. Following Katrina, 31% say CNN is a main source of news. The Fox News Channel and MSNBC also saw sizable, though smaller, audience gains from Katrina.

Interestingly, despite all the hype about the Internet, it was TV to which most people turned. The cybersphere actually lost ground. But, not surprisingly ...

Previous Pew surveys have shown the Fox News audience to be highly supportive of the president. This remains the case today, with Fox viewers reacting far more favorably to the president's handling of the disaster than those who cite other outlets as their major source of news on the hurricane.

In addition, a plurality of Fox News viewers (42%) say that people who took things from businesses and homes in New Orleans were mostly criminals taking advantage of the situation. The balance of opinion among those who rely on other outlets ­ CNN, network news, newspapers and the internet ­ is that people who stole were mostly ordinary people trying to survive in an emergency.

Not sure if that says more about Fox's content -- or its viewers.

Snicker.

Comments

[Jon Spencer]

Didn't we previously think CNN's Jonathan Klein was perhaps a good guy, on the side of hard-hitting news?

http://thestar.blogs.com/azerb/2005/06/oh_now_you_say_.html

[Elvid]

If the media hadn't compromised themselves so much on showing the dead in the recent past, I mightn't feel so conflicted about their anger at the ban on photographing body recovery.
Shouldn't the North American public seen the footage of those jumping from the twin towers in 2001 or the complete video of Daniel Pearl's murder.
Lots of times that the media plays the "sensitivity" card in terms of death in the media.
Personally seen enough dead bodies from the Katrina catastrophe to do for a long time.

[Antonia Z.]

Jon ... Thanks for your comment but please read the posting above again, will ya?

I say it's one of "my more conspiracy-minded pals"" who says that and my feeling is that "I doubt it's anything more than the fact that the reporters saw the misery and devastation up close and horrifying ."

[Jon Spencer]

AZ: I wasn't faulting you for being overly trusting of your conspiracy-minded pals ... I was merely pointing out the contextual background info you had blogged, that suggests that this fellow Klein is still worth watching to suss out where he stands on CNN's News Dept being/becoming a respected member of the independent media, or being/becoming a toady. Sorry if my comment came out sounding accusatory!

[Antonia Z.]

I guess I am just a sensitive little flower who takes everything personally and melts into a puddle when anybody looks at me crosswise.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

E-hugs all around.