Maynard Institute archives

Journalists Stay Put to Cover Gustav

by richard0551

Creative services director Billy Pilgrim wires WDSU General Manager Joel Vilmenay before Vilmenay addresses the newsroom about the hurricane (credit: Sandra Jetton/WDSU)  

National Counterparts Fly In from GOP Convention

Nearly 2 million people left south Louisiana in a massive evacuation effort as the nation awaited the arrival of Hurricane Gustav, but most news organizations stayed put, even camping out in their workplaces Monday as they continued to report the news.

WDSU executive producer Amy Sneed and producer Deon Guillory get a little rest away from the control room. (credit: Sandra Jetton/WDSU)"I packed a suitcase, got my important papers and left everything there," Greg Turner, chief engineer at WDSU-TV, the NBC affiliate, told Journal-isms, referring to his home. He was speaking from the studio, where he said he was with 60 to 80 others, including some who came in from other Hearst-Argyle stations around the country.

"We have food, fuel, generators, water, showers, security . . . everything we need to be safe and secure."

General manager Joel Vilmenay told Journal-isms, "We are staying here. Our staff is in the newsroom. We’re here covering the story." The station constructed an alternative studio at Southern University, a historically black school in Baton Rouge. It serves as a bureau in the state capital, and 30 people are based there, Vilmenay said.

Reporters and editors were continually updating the Web site of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, where power went out, according to Mike McQueen, Associated Press bureau chief for Louisiana and Mississippi.

As it turned out, the storm passed inland 70 miles southwest of the city as a downgraded Category 2 storm.

 But on Monday night, Jenny Hurwitz and Sarah Carr wrote in the Times-Picayune, "Public officials across the New Orleans area cautioned evacuees to stay put because the region is not yet ready to begin accepting people. Power remains out across wide swaths, and storm debris still clutters local roadways. Jefferson Parish public schools and Recovery School District campuses in New Orleans are closed until Monday, and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said the earliest that Catholic schools will reopen is Friday."

From the newsroom, Editor Jim Amoss told the Canadian Broadcasting Co.: "This is where we’re living for the moment."

Dan Shea, the Times-Picayune’s managing editor/news, "said some 120 Times-Picayune staffers were at the paper’s home location Sunday evening, with more than half remaining through the night to blog and cover the story for the Web site. He said the Web site had 3 million page views on Sunday, triple the usual," Joe Strupp wrote for Editor & Publisher.

McQueen told Journal-isms he relocated 100 miles north to Hammond, La., to the newsroom of the Hammond Daily News, but that others from the AP went to the Times-Picayune newsroom.

"During hurricanes in New Orleans, we move our offices from downtown New Orleans to whereever seems logical," he wrote in an e-mail.

"in this instance, we have two bases of operation: one in the newsroom of the times-picayune. new orleans is the most logical place to station reporters.
the second is in the newsroom of the hammond daily star. this is where our editing desk is based — close enough to know what’s going on in new orleans but far enough away to not feel the effects.

"for instance, the power went down at the times-picayune earlier today. we have power here. you don’t need electricity to conduct reporting, but running an editing desk without computer [access] is crazy."

Times-Picayune metro columnist Lolis Eric Elie "is hunkered down in the Trem?© neighborhood with fellow TP reporter Katy Reckdahl and two other friends who felt it was important to stay and cover the situation — a civil rights lawyer and a community activist," his colleague Dawn Logsdon wrote to interested parties. "His sister Migel, a doctor with the State of Louisiana Emergency Services, is also on emergency call. They are staying at his dad’s old Creole cottage compound, which has survived many a hurricane. They’ve already lost power and cell phone service but so far the landline is still working." Logsdon and Elie co-directed the recent "Faubourg Trem?©: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans."

According to Fox News, "FEMA estimated there were only about 10,000 people left in the city, and the state said about 100,000 remained on the coast. Nearly 2 million people answered the call to leave south Louisiana in the days before Gustav’s arrival, a massive evacuation effort designed to avoid the nearly 1,600 deaths suffered when Hurricane Katrina struck an unprepared Gulf Coast in 2005."

"The stations in the New Orleans market are activating the emergency plans they’ve been regularly rehearsing since Katrina’s devastation three years before," Michael Malone wrote in Broadcasting & Cable.

"WWL President/General Manager Bud Brown says some key capital purchases, such as two-way radios that hold up better in extreme weather than cellphones, are helping the Belo station get the news out to those still in the area — and those who’ve departed for neighboring regions."

"While the remaining viewership in the market may be dwindling, Brown says WWL is broadcasting via satellite on the digital channels of sister Belo stations WFAA Dallas and KHOU Houston to let evacuated citizens know what’s happening back home."

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, called in to WDSU-TV Sunday morning to encourage evacuation, the Times-Picayune reported.

NBC’s Brian Williams, ABC’s Charles Gibson and CBS’ Katie Couric were en route to the region on Sunday, Marisa Guthrie reported for Broadcasting & Cable.

"The primary lesson that we learned [from Katrina] is you go in early and you move aggressively and you send experienced people because this is dangerous," said Steve Capus, president NBC News, Guthrie wrote.

"The network has five crews in the region said Capus. Brian Williams will lead Gustav coverage for NBC and MSNBC. NBC News also will utilize the considerable resources of the newly acquired Weather Channel." Tom Brokaw, meanwhile, will remain in St. Paul, Minn., to handle coverage of the Republican National Convention, the story said.

"Gibson will report live from New Orleans for World News on Sunday and Monday while George Stephanopoulos will continue to report from St. Paul.

CBS announced Sunday that Couric, who had been scheduled to anchor Republican convention coverage from St. Paul, would instead anchor "The CBS Evening News" from New Orleans starting Monday. Couric was to anchor an hour-long special on New Orleans Monday at 10 p.m. Eastern time, it said later.

In addition, CBS News correspondents Cynthia Bowers, Randall Pinkston, Byron Pitts, Dave Price, Tracy Smith and Hari Sreenivasan would report from the area for all CBS News broadcasts, the network said.

NBC said Ann Curry, Lester Holt, Al Roker and a team of correspondents will also be on location. John Yang will be among those remaining in St. Paul, as will Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson of the MSNBC pundit panel.

"Harry Smith, co-anchor of CBS’ ‘The Early Show,’ who had been set to be in New York after co-anchoring from Denver during the Democratic convention, also will co-anchor from the Gulf Coast starting Monday," Ira Teinowitz reported for TV Week.

"Jim Lehrer, executive editor and anchor of PBS’ ‘The NewsHour,’ also left St. Paul on Sunday and will anchor the show on Monday from the show’s normal Washington, D.C., area studio.

"Fox News Channel, meanwhile, shifted anchor Shephard Smith from St. Paul to New Orleans, along with correspondent Steve Harrigan, daytime anchor Trace Gallagher and correspondent Jon Scott."

Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, told Journal-isms she was in St. Paul and found that given the news of the hurricane, the Republican gathering lacked "any semblance of passion and enthusiasm" when compared with last week’s Democratic convention in Denver. "We understand there are¬†going to be some differences, considering the news of the day, but there’s no real sense of excitement."

She also said, "you could count the number of African American journalists on one hand."

Choice of Palin Raises Stakes for VP Debate

Sen. John McCain‘s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his Republican running mate is making the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate more significant, boosting Gwen Ifill the importance of the questioning by moderator Gwen Ifill.

"At some point . . . she’ll have to face the formidable Joe Biden — veteran chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — in a debate sure to hone in on her utter lack of experience with foreign policy and national security issues," columnist Tim Rutten wrote¬†Saturday in the Los Angeles Times. "If she isn’t careful, Palin could emerge from that encounter looking a lot like Dan Quayle in drag."

The subject came up again Sunday in the pundits’ roundtable on ABC-TV’s "This Week." George Will said the debate would be "the next time the country will be seriously paying attention to her."

Host George Stephanopoulos replied, "Joe Biden has to worry about appearing to be bullying her."

Sam Donaldson added, "In that debate, if Joe Biden’s smart, he won’t try to take her on in any way; he can’t do the Al Gore sigh, the schoolmarm. Answer Gwen Ifill’s questions and show his expertise, and hope that Gwen Ifill puts the metal to her, and see whether she has the same expertise."

Ifill is senior correspondent for PBS’ "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" and moderator and managing editor of PBS’ "Washington Week." The debate takes place at Washington University in St. Louis.

 

"Democracy Now!" Host Arrested at GOP Convention

"Democracy Now! radio host Amy Goodman and two producers were arrested while covering demonstrations at the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn. Goodman was released after being held for over three hours, but is still waiting to hear when Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar would be released," Holly Watt reported Monday on washingtonpost.com.

"’I was down on the convention floor interviewing delegates when I heard that two of our producers had been arrested,’ said Goodman. ‘I ran down to Jackson and 7th Street, where the police had moved in.’

"Goodman said that when she ran up to find out what was going on, she was also arrested."

Watt also reported that Donna Brazile, the Democratic pundit and strategist, was hit by pepper spray as she walked to the Xcel Center at the start of the convention.

"Marcus Washington, a freelance videographer wearing a ‘Media’ badge, said cops sprayed him with pepper spray twice at Seventh and Minnesota streets," the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

"’I grabbed my press pass, a walked forward with my camera toward police just to film them and they maced me,’ said Washington, shirtless and whose face was streaked with a liquid used to flush the pepper spray. ‘I got delerious and blind and fell over. . . . It’s still burning because I shaved my head and I have tattoos.’"

The Raleigh News & Observer 'has been deluged with complaints that artist Bruce Tinsley's jackhammering of the Democratic nominee is inappropriate for the comics page,' according to ombudsman Ted Vaden. He recommended dropping 'Mallard Fillmore,' which runs in about 400 papers.

Anti-Obama Comic Strip Too Much, Ombudsman Says

"Mallard Fillmore," the conservative answer to "Doonesbury," "has abused its place on the comics page" with a stream of anti-Barack Obama strips and should be dropped, Ted Vaden, the public editor of the Raleigh News & Observer, wrote on Sunday.

The strip runs in about 400 newspapers.

"Recent example: ‘I’m Barack Obama, and I blessed this commercial.’ Another: ‘And now, according to the rules, the current version of Senator Obama will have two minutes to rebut the statements made by the previous version of Senator Obama.’

"Clever digs, maybe, but nakedly political. The N&O has been deluged with complaints that artist Bruce Tinsley‘s jackhammering of the Democratic nominee is inappropriate for the comics page," Vaden wrote.

"’Can’t you see how tremendously unfair this is — in this election year to allow one-sided attacks on only the Democratic presidential candidate?’ wrote Judith Fertitta of Durham."

Vaden made his recommendation after rejecting the options of moving "Mallard Fillmore" to the op-ed page or "Doonesbury" to the comics page.

"Tinsley’s cartoon has morphed from political satire to political propaganda, and the prospect is that it will get more partisan as the presidential campaign intensifies.

"With 15 anti-Obama panels in one month, the strip has abused its place on the comics page. But it’s frankly not of the same artistic or writing quality as ‘Doonesbury’ and doesn’t merit opinion page placement on bombast alone."

AP Issues Talking Points in Defense of Fournier

The Associated Press has issued "talking points" for editors to use in defense of Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier, who is under attack for a pro-John Ron Fournier McCain tilt in his writing, according to Michael Calderone of Politico.com, who said¬†he had obtained a memo written by Ellen Hale, the AP’s vice president for corporate communications.

The campaign against Fournier by such left-leaning watchdog organizations as moveon.org reached a flashpoint after Fournier wrote an analysis piece about Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden for a running mate. The headline on the piece read, "Biden pick shows lack of confidence."

"The analysis was similar in perspective, tone and content to what other journalists for major news organizations were writing or saying," Hale contended.

"AP has what arguably are the strict ethics and news values policies in the industry," she continued. "They are closely monitored and adhered to. These guidelines lay out in great detail that AP reporters and editors must avoid any political activity, whether they cover politics or not. AP journalists may not perform any kind of work for politicians and may not donate money to political organizations or campaigns, or any other organizations that take political positions. They must avoid any activity or behavior that constitutes a conflict of interest. You can refer anyone to The Associated Press Statement of New Values and Principles at http://www.ap.org/newsvalues/index.html.

"In addition, it may be important to remind members that The Associated Press has a long and continuing legacy of aggressively but fairly reporting on how government and politicians serve the people who elect them, regardless of political affiliation. AP fought to win the identities of those held at Guantanamo Bay detention center, for example, and Ron Fournier’s own coverage in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was extremely critical of the GOP Bush Administration."

Short Takes

  • "Creators Syndicate columnist Thomas Sowell has written about his experience having a piece wrongly attributed to him on the Web," Dave Astor wrote¬†last week for Editor & Publisher. "As E&P reported in two stories earlier this month, a blogger posted a piece under Sowell’s name that the columnist didn’t write. The new column — offered to Sowell clients as a bonus piece — is titled "Anarchy on the Internet."
  • The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting has awarded the 2008-2009 Diversity Fellowships in Environmental Reporting to five journalists: Azadeh Ansari, morning news writer, KTVU-TV in San Francisco; Hamida Kinge, press and marketing manager, Brooklyn Arts Exchange in New York; Michelle Ma, environment, health, and social issues reporter, the Daily Triplicate in Crescent City, Calif.; Brentin Mock, staff writer for Intelligence Report magazine; and Bina Venkataraman, reporting intern at the New York Times.
  • "Fans of Mexico and international f??tbol will find a new offering at the newsstand on Tuesday (Sept. 2) with the debut of a weekly U.S. soccer magazine inspired by R?©cord, the popular Mexican daily sports newspaper," Della de Lafuente wrote¬†Friday for Marketing y Medios. "The U.S. title R?©cord Semanario de F??tbol will launch in California and Texas via newsstand and subscriptions sales, said Alexandra Zanic, marketing manager of the soccer title’s publisher, Maya Magazines, Miami."¬†

     

 

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