From Anchor Visits to Bloggers Roundtable
Broadcast coverage of the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina includes on-the-scene reports by anchors from CBS, NBC and CNN. Here are network plans, as reported by the outlets’ publicity departments.
ABC
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ABC News will mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with a series, “Katrina: Where Things Stand,” airing across ABC News’ broadcasts and platforms.
On Tuesday, Aug. 28, on “Good Morning America,” senior law and justice correspondent Jim Avila will investigate a joint state/federal grant program intended to help rebuild homes in Louisiana. Instead of doling out aid, the program has created bureaucratic hurdles for thousands still struggling to find a home since the storm. On Wednesday, Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts will co-anchor”GMA’s” coverage of the anniversary. Roberts, who has reported extensively from the Gulf Coast over the past two years, returns to Mississippi to revisit the people and places devastated by the storm.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, “World News with Charles Gibson” and its Webcast will feature reports from Steve Osunsami and Avila. Reporting from New Orleans, Osunsami will examine the rise of violent crime in the city and the challenges facing law enforcement. Avila will investigate the state of the levee system. Two years and a billion dollars worth of work later, have the reinforced levees really made the city safer? Plus, with all of the hardships facing the residents of New Orleans, why do they stay? Later on “Nightline,” “World News” Sunday anchor Dan Harris will report on the receding Gulf Coast line and its vital importance to keeping the region safe from another natural disaster. How vulnerable is the region to another storm?
ABCNEWS.com will feature extensive reporting from the “Katrina: Where Things Stand” series. A selection of online resources, including slideshows and video clips, will complement reporting on ABC News’ broadcasts. ABC News Radio will also provide coverage with correspondent Alex Stone reporting from New Orleans. NewsOne, the ABC News affiliate news feed service, will offer live reports from correspondent Yunji De Nies in New Orleans. “ABC News Now” will feature reports from the Gulf Coast region and New Orleans, in addition to special guests and programs revisiting the people and places affected by the storm.
BET
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“S.O.S.: 2 Years After the Storm” premieres on Thursday, Aug. 30, at 8:30 p.m., with a repeat airing on Sunday, Sept. 2, at 11:30 a.m.
BET News revisits New Orleans, Houston and Mississippi for a recap on the progress that survivors of Hurricane Katrina have made two years after the storm. In New Orleans beyond Bourbon Street, other parts of the city have a different story to tell. Just beyond the tourist areas are overcrowded trailer parks, hospitals and schools that are still inoperable, condemned houses barely standing and a city of frustrated residents who are eager to return to some sort of normalcy. Houston stepped up in a major way after the hurricane, with the city taking in about a quarter of a million Katrina survivors. Two years later, approximately 100,000 remain there. In Gulfport, Miss., BET links up with Mixx Maestro, a local DJ who survived both Katrina and Rita. He serves as tour guide and takes viewers through the city and shows the progress and pitfalls of reconstructing the Gulf Coast. The special features interviews with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, rappers Baby and Lil Wayne and many more.
CBS
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“CBS Evening News” will offer a four-part series focusing on the two-year anniversary that runs this week. Anchor Katie Couric does two pieces, shot last week in New Orleans, and Byron Pitts has a piece.
“The Early Show” will offer two pieces by Harry Smith, likely running Thursday and Friday, which he shot in New Orleans last Thursday and Friday. Smith reports on volunteers who have led the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans and on some of the obstacles that residents of New Orleans are facing two years after Katrina hit the region.
“48 Hours Mystery” is producing two separate hours this coming season that deal with the storms’ aftermath.
The first: Two murders in New Orleans post-Katrina — We investigate the mystery surrounding the death of these “saints” and uncover a shocking picture of a city literally killing itself. New Orleans is on track to maintain the dubious honor of “murder capital of America.” The second hour deals with a crime — a husband and his wife are the only two people to face trial for the missteps and chaos around Katrina. There’s one problem in this case: 35 people died. Who’s to blame? The husband and wife or the government, who the defense says failed everyone. Air dates to be determined.
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CNN
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Monday, Aug. 27
Soledad O’Brien anchors “Anderson Cooper 360″ live from New Orleans, 10 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 28
O’Brien anchors “Anderson Cooper 360” live from New Orleans, 10 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 29
CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and filmmaker Spike Lee team with 11 New Orleans-area teenagers for a documentary that captures what their lives have been like since the devastating storm. Filmed almost entirely by the teens with handheld digital video cameras, “CNN: Special Investigations Unit — Children of the Storm” focuses on the personal journeys of Deshawn Dabney, Brandon Franklin, Amanda Hill and Shantia Reneau.
“Children of the Storm” premieres on Wednesday, Aug. 29, at 8 p.m., with replays on Saturday, Sept. 1, and Sunday, Sept. 2, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. All times Eastern.
Before Hurricane Katrina, 75,000 children attended public schools in New Orleans and suburban St. Bernard Parish. The teens in the documentary are among the 30,000 students who have returned to their schools. Filmed between January and August of this year, the teens discuss loss, depression, inspiration and redemption in their own words, diary-style.
Cooper live from New Orleans, 10 p.m.
Correspondents reporting live on Wednesday are Soledad O’Brien, Susan Roesgen, Sean Callebs and Kathleen Koch.
Fox News Channel
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Fox News will be providing reports throughout the day on Wed., Aug. 29, with correspondents dispatched to New Orleans and Mississippi.
A Katrina timeline package will look back on how Hurricane Katrina unfolded and the subsequent events.
Correspondents Jeff Goldblatt and Kris Gutierrez will provide live updates throughout the day from New Orleans, looking at the status of recovery and rebuilding and what progress has actually been made. They’ll also take a look at where the billions of dollars have been allocated.
During “Studio B” and “FOX Report,” senior correspondent Trace Gallagher will provide reports live from New Orleans. He will talk to those whose lives have been turned upside down by Katrina and their battles and challenges to stay in New Orleans and regain a “normal” life.
Marianne Silber will present a package from Mississippi focusing on tourism officials who are spending thousands of dollars trying to recruit volunteers to help rebuild Southern Mississippi counties.
HBO
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Spike Lee’s documentary “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts” will rerun in its entirety at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.
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National Public Radio
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All Things Considered
Aug. 27
Two years after Hurricane Katrina, more than 90,000 refugees remain (permanently it seems) in Houston. If living in New Orleans was like living in a mother’s warm embrace, family all around, short commutes on streetcars named Desire, living in Houston is like living with your older, much more successful (and not necessarily approving of your life choices) brother. Nevertheless, Houston is one of the world’s most successful economies and slowly but surely (and certainly painfully) those 504’s are learning to become 713’s. Wade Goodwyn reports.
Day to Day
Aug. 28
Hancock is one of the Gulf Coast Mississippi counties hit by a 28-foot storm surge. The Emergency Operations Center has been makeshift operating out of a school and has plans for an $8 million storm-proof headquarters but the county’s broke. Plus the school wants its building back and when the storm season ends in December the EOC’s chief, Brian “Hootie” Adam will have to set up in trailers someplace. Noah Adams reports.
Morning Edition
Aug. 29
Congress has appropriated $116 billion for recovery from the Gulf Coast hurricanes, but residents say they haven’t seen that much money in action. Pam Fessler reports.
Tell Me More
Aug. 29
Developers, non-profit organizations and local universities are spearheading the reconstruction efforts in New Orleans in a green way. As part of “Tell Me More’s” series recognizing the second anniversary of the storm, host Michel Martin speaks with Charles Allen, president of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, and a local resident about community housing initiatives in the Lower Ninth Ward.
News & Notes
“News & Notes” will have four days of special Katrina coverage peppered through the daily program. The show will:
Revisit storm victims and medical personnel the show talked to two years ago. These include Lower Ninth Ward resident Marguerite Doyle Johnston, who is still living in her trailer that FEMA gave her on Desire Street. Her house has not been rebuilt.
Black Bloggers Roundtable. As part of this weekly series, host Farai Chideya talks with bloggers from New Orleans, including one blogger who is a lifelong resident of NOLA, lost his grandmother in the storm and began blogging long before Katrina.
Day to Day
Aug. 29
Reporter Josh Levs checks in with the Smith family. The Smiths lost their New Orleans home two years ago during Hurricane Katrina. The show has followed their story as they try to remake their lives. Selwyn and Chiquita Smith now live in McKinney, Texas, with their three children.
Day to Day
Aug. 29
Host Madeleine Brand talks with writer Blake Bailey. Bailey and his family fled their New Orleans home when Hurricane Katrina struck two years ago. The online magazine Slate asked Bailey to chronicle his family’s lives as they moved around the region staying with friends. Then something remarkable happened: A Slate reader paid for the family’s rent for an entire year. The show checks in with the Baileys to see how things are going since we spoke to them last.
Morning Edition
Aug. 30
A profile of Paul Vallas, the energetic schools chief given credit for helping turn around struggling schools in Chicago and Philadelphia. He’s now taken on one of the most challenging jobs in public education in America: rebuilding the New Orleans public schools. Even before Katrina, the city’s schools were ranked among the worst in the nation. Larry Abramson reports.
All Things Considered
Aug. 31
Among all the broken systems in New Orleans, the criminal justice system is arguably the most dysfunctional. Ari Shapiro has this story.
All Things Considered
Aug. 31
Among the artists struggling to get by after the storm is Eddie Bo (Edwin Bocage). He’s a “soul-funk-jazz” pianist who lives and plays in a old firehouse. He had hit records back in the 1960’s and a new recording not yet released. He’s in a fight with a developer over the firehouse. NPR’s Noah Adams has this profile.
Weekend Edition Saturday
Sept. 1
During the Katrina disaster, the Times-Picayune became a lifeline for the New Orleans region. Dispersed evacuees and those who remained in the city found the reporting and community services provided by the paper invaluable in coping with the crisis. Reporters and editors neglected their own destroyed homes to move into the newsroom and continue publishing. How did that experience affect what the paper is today? David Folkenflik reports.
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NBC
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NBC News’ reporting of the storm and its aftermath continues with live coverage from the region on Tuesday, Aug. 28 and Wednesday, Aug. 29. Brian Williams will return to the Gulf Coast region for the 14th time and will anchor “NBC Nightly News” live on Tuesday, Aug. 28, from Waveland, Miss., and on Wednesday, Aug. 29, from New Orleans. Coverage will also include reporting from NBC News’ New Orleans Bureau correspondent Martin Savidge. Among other stories, the broadcast will revisit familiar faces and report on those who have rebuilt, those still struggling to, and those who continue to make a difference.
On Wednesday, Williams will also report for “Today,” live from New Orleans, with Tiki Barber live from the Mississippi Gulf.
MSNBC will mark the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with live coverage from the Gulf Coast region through out the day.
CNBC will present “Against the Tide: The Battle for New Orleans.”
PBS
Tuesday, Aug. 28
The Tavis Smiley program: New Orleans: Two Years After Katrina (Smiley visits residents fighting to rebuild their lives)
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NOVA “Storm That Drowned a City” (repeat): NOVA presents a minute-by-minute eyewitness account of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, exploring why the flood defenses and disaster relief planning failed to match Katrina’s fury. What made this storm so deadly? How accurately did scientists predict its impact? And why are powerful hurricanes like Katrina likely to strike more often? The program will investigate the immense challenges posed by rebuilding New Orleans, and why — despite all the knowledge of the peril faced by its citizens— the city was so tragically unprepared when the long-feared disaster finally struck.
Wednesday, Aug. 29
Tavis Smiley:
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.)
In addition, “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” will be running pieces all week. and “NOW” will have links to Katrina coverage on its Web site.
