ABSTRACT

Columnist Jonah Goldberg took an extreme position when he criticized the continuing celebration of journalism’s good work by asserting that “Hurricane Katrina represented an unmitigated media disaster as well”. The lessons learned from dealing with the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, and an isolated field in Pennsylvania were fresh in the minds of reporters. The difference in coverage of the Gulf Coast hurricanes occurred because journalists abandoned their traditional impassive approach to the news and allowed their feelings to show in their reporting. The strain of the journalistic effort was intensified for local journalists by the fact that they were victims themselves. Many journalists clearly abandoned the concept of fair-and-balanced coverage and became advocacy reporters, telling the people in no uncertain terms what they were witnessing. Journalists have been taught they must be fair and balanced—and, at the same time, they must seek the truth.