Media frustration over hurricane response efforts (or lack thereof)

Salon.com (free day pass required) has compiled viedo of reporters expressing their frustration over the government response to Hurricane Katrina.

In my mind, there are a couple different reasons for these dramatic reactions by individuals who are supposed to be objectively covering the story. There are a few things that differentiate the coverage Hurricane Katrina from other natural and unnatural disasters:

1. This disaster was inside the U.S., in a large city.
2. Unlike 9/11, the people directly affected (not from fear, but actual loss) are poor Americans who did not have much to begin with. Besides huge death tolls, people have lost their homes, their businesses, their jobs and their city.
   
3. Reporters have experienced the suffering of these people first-hand. It didn't happen over the course of a couple of days. There has been suffering and death for weeks. It didn't happened half-way across the world, like the Tsunami did. These people speak the same language and are connected by the same media. Many of these reporters have visited New Orleans before. The before-after comparison is extremely dramatic.
   
4. There is an obvious economic and racial contrast between those who were able to flee the are and those who chose to stay in New Orleans.
   

Brian Williams was in the Superdome with thousands of people seeking shelter from the storm. Other reporters saw firsthand not only the devastation that comes with a hurricane, but the impact that this particular storm had on a poor minority population.

It seemed to many reporters (and myself) that they cared more about the people being directly affected by the storm than those responsible for organizing the relief efforts. There was very little sincere frustration from public officials (besides the mayor of New Orleans). Why would the media know more than those in charge? It's a frustrating thought.

President Bush did say today that he took responsibility for the inadequate federal response to the situation, which is a step in the right direction. A step that is two weeks too late, but a step nonetheless. I don't blame Bush entirely for the piss-poor execution of relief efforts, but I do blame local, state and federal bureaucrats who didn't insist that more be done, immediately. There should have been a call at each rung of the chain command that screamed for more resources, assisted evacuation. In other words, drastic times call for drastic measures... not drastic defense of misinformation and inaction.

Thanks to Wonkette