Is the media overhyping the violence and looting?

[vbhoutex]

Strictly a question due to the fact I have heard this is the case from people who are there doing SAR. Also this morning Harry Connick stated that the roads are wide open into NO. He wanted to bring in water in a truck and they wouldn't let him because "it is too dangerous". If it is so dangerous why are he and hundreds/thousands of other media allowed to report from the middle of the "chaos"?

[Persepone]

My opinion is that you are right and that "violence" is over-hyped.

It may well be an excuse not to do things.

The news personnel, etc. seem to be able to go about their work amidst generally peaceable people.

As some New Orleans policeman/official said (not a direct quote--I'm relaying the gist of what I heard/understood): there is some small percentage of the population of NO that is the criminal element and we do battle with them everyday (before the hurricane). If they were criminals before the hurricane, they're not going to change suddenly. But now we are doing battle with them in the dark, with no communications, etc. And in the situation they are much more obvious, more visible and more dangerous.

These "career criminals" and "career gangs" probably exist in every city and town in the world. Remember the line in Casablanca about "round up the usual suspects..." Here on Cape Cod we have our own "usual suspects"--the "career criminals" so to speak. But most of the citizens are law-abiding, regardless of their economic situation.

I think that the "career criminals" have been joined by a bunch of amateurs spurred on by the situation as well as those who have joined the ranks of the looters out of perceived self-preservation. I was very interested in the comments of some at the convention center--especially people with small children--that the ONLY food and water they had had in 5 days had been supplied to them by the looters!!! So we may have a bunch of "looters" out there playing Robin Hood, so to speak.

The bottom line is that stealing is wrong and looting is doubly wrong because you are stealing from those who are already victims themselves!

On the other hand, my attitude toward the looters and the looting has changed over the past several days.

I notice that in other places stores are being "emptied" (rather than looted) possibly under declarations of "eminent domain" (either formal or informal). Apparently some stores have been opened (by the owners? mangers? local officials? Robin Hood?) and stuff is being passed out of them in some orderly fashion--water other liquids, non-perishible food, diapers, etc. This did not happen in New Orleans--but perhaps it should have happened in some fashion.

We heard reports of the police "looting" and now it seems as if they were taking stuff under those laws of "eminent" domain. The problem is that it did not "look" that way--and I'm sure that a bunch of people in NO who saw this--and who were without essentials--and said, hey, if the police can loot, I guess I can too.

There was some woman who got questioned as she walked off with about 14 pairs of shoes from some store--and then she said something to the effect that "all of us lost or shoes getting here through the floodwaters and we need shoes because there is broken glass everywhere." And then she proceeded to put specific names on the sizes of shoes she had looted. So yeah, there were 14 people without shoes who truly needed them but all 14 did not show up to steal their individual pairs of shoes. Well, that sort of puts a different perspective on those 14 pairs of shoes.

There is a chance, of course, that the shoe woman was just a fast-thinking liar--but if what she said is true, then she is NOT quite the same type of looter than the ones stealing TV sets, etc.

Day 1 and even Day 2 my feelings about looting were very different from what they are now. When it looked as if rescue and evacuation was imminent and we were under the assumption that there was water in the Superdome and Convention Center and perhaps some type of food, the looting seemed a lot more "wrong" than it does on Day 5 of the situation.

I do believe that a helicopter, etc. that tried to land near the Superdome or Convention Center with supplies would be mobbed, that people would be injured or killed, etc. because the people are so angry and desperate--but I do not think that was true in Monday/Tuesday timeframe. But I do think they could "rain down" juice packs or even bottles of water and alleviate some of the suffering--and yes, I think people would probably see to a pretty equitable distribution if enough of it was rained down... (e.g., dropped).

But overall, I think the violence is not as bad as depicted in the media.

A note: they showed kids fighting with each other as an example of "violence." Yeah, guess what. Kid's do fight with each other and the tensions, etc. of those kids at the convention center are pretty high. But they also showed that the "fight" did not inflict serious harm--and that the two participants almost instantly ended it as if in mid slap they realized that they weren't angry with each other....

[Sean in New Orleans]

A little, but, not much. It's bad there, but, I was on the streets and the media isn't doing a whole lot of exaggeration, this time.

[Liberty30]

A little, but, not much. It's bad there, but, I was on the streets and the media isn't doing a whole lot of exaggeration, this time.

I was curious about that too. Not suprised to hear you say that Sean. Pretty much all of the people who I have heard or read the accounts of who were in the city echo those sentiments. Also the phone calls (such as those in the hospitals) and the scanner broadcasts I listened to backed the media up 100% (in some cases they even downplayed the situation). This is one case... and these are rare... where the media avoided exagerating. All you really had to do was listen to the emotion in their voice. That's not usually there. Shows you the true nature of the situation.

I was suprised to hear on NBC last night, that for the first time EVER when covering a domestic situation, the network had to hire a private security force... the same thing they do in Iraq and other places. For those of you, such as vbhoutex, that is why Connick is able to report.

I was suprised to read this quote from the mayor today also. Nagin said, "They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of godda** _ excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed."

Wow. No one can defend the response now. That closes the case for me. I am glad there are guys like you Sean who can tell what happened, as I am amazed by the number of people willing to pretend like this was not a big deal, or exaggerated and the authorities had a good grip on it. I don't want the tragedy to get lost in the spin or just plain ignorance of people who weren't there or did not follow the scanners, witnesses, videos, etc, to get independent information (outside of the press conferences, etc).

[Stormtrack]

Strictly a question due to the fact I have heard this is the case from people who are there doing SAR. Also this morning Harry Connick stated that the roads are wide open into NO. He wanted to bring in water in a truck and they wouldn't let him because "it is too dangerous". If it is so dangerous why are he and hundreds/thousands of other media allowed to report from the middle of the "chaos"?

Having heard what some of the refugees that have left there have said I don't think they are oherhyping it at all. It's bad and very unfortunate for all the good people that are still there. You can imagine how this must frighten people that are still there.

[soonertwister]

I saw a report from an NOLA police officer who went to Baton Rouge after working 60 hours straight. He said that the officers were outgunned by roving armed gangs driving around in trucks.

He also said many police officers drowned while on duty, that the security situation was extremely dire, and that he had seen bodies riddled with bullets and one man with the top of his head blown off.

I don't think you can overexaggerate the situation, when 100 persons who were evacuated from Chapelle (sp?) died while on one ship ride to a field hospital, presumably mostly from effects of prolonged dehydration.

It really is the nightmare scenario. I warned someone the other day when they said that this couldn't possibly be as bad as the Galveston disaster in terms of loss of life, because at the time I didn't think we had any idea what the situation is. I'm still not sure we do.

[Stephanie]

I've always believed that where there's smoke, there's fire. I do agree that alot of the coverage makes it seem like that whole city has nothing but thugs and criminals living there. There has been looting but the majority of those people were going for the essentials, not tv's, belts, etc. We are also hearing that good samaritans have been hijacked on the way to deliver supplies in places like Mississippi and Alabama, so you know it is happening everywhere. However, we do know that the desparation is so high now that anyone that comes near NO with supplies, even Harry Connick, will probably get mobbed an could be injured by normal, everyday people that are currently at the end of their rope.

[Liberty30]

Just read this a few moments ago on CNN.

Overnight, police snipers were stationed on the roof of their precinct, trying to protect it from gunmen roaming through the city, CNN's Chris Lawrence reported.

One New Orleans police sergeant compared the situation to Somalia and said officers were outnumbered and outgunned by gangs in trucks.

"It's a war zone, and they're not treating it like one," he said, referring to the federal government.

The officer hitched a ride to Baton Rouge Friday morning, after working 60 hours straight in the flooded city. He has not decided whether he will return.

He broke down in tears when he described the deaths of his fellow officers, saying many had drowned doing their jobs. Other officers have turned in their badges as the situation continues to deteriorate.

In one incident, the sergeant said gunmen fired rifles and AK-47s at the helicopters flying overhead.

He said he saw bodies riddled with bullet holes, and the top of one man's head completely shot off.

Yikes. It's the number of stories like this that lead me to echo Stephanie's sentiments of, "where there's smoke, there's fire." Unfortunately in New Orleans case, it's literally fire.