New Orleans Mayor Says Stories Remain Untold
“Facing a cavernous meeting room packed with black journalists Friday, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin delivered a simple prescription for his city’s current problems as the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s impact neared:
“Better media coverage,” Eric Deggans reported from Indianapolis today in the St. Petersburg Times.
“‘I came here with a message for you as black journalists. . . . You need to tell this story, and you need to look for angles your boss wouldn’t approve,’ Nagin told members of the National Association of Black Journalists during a plenary session titled ‘Covering Katrina: Truth and Consequences.’
“‘If I were to tell you that in trying to get grants to come back to the city of New Orleans a citizen has to go through a process where they treat you like a criminal â?? they fingerprint you and question you . . . would that be worthy of coverage?’ he said. ‘Don’t be hoodwinked . . . into thinking the people of New Orleans can’t get the job done. Nobody’s telling that story.’
“It was an unusual observation, given the amount of national and local media coverage New Orleans’ struggles have received so far; NBC and National Public Radio maintain bureaus in the city, and CNN’s Anderson Cooper has regularly challenged ineffectual relief response in a segment for his evening news show called ‘Keeping Them Honest.’
“Still, over a 10-minute speech and brief Q&A session, Nagin blamed problems with rebuilding the city on a ‘bureaucratic’ state system, which has kept New Orleans from getting relief dollars as quickly as cities in other states. Though the city has received about $120-million in federal funds and $1.3-million in state grants, the relief hasn’t come quickly enough or in large enough amounts, he said.”
Nagin urged his audience to pursue the “many untold stories” in his city. His comment that most of the tens of billions of dollars in federal aid has flowed to developers and contractors but not to the residents was followed by:
“But let me make a speech on Martin Luther King’s birthday that this should be a diverse city again — that’s international news for weeks.”
It was a reference to Nagin’s January statement that New Orleans would be a “Chocolate City” again, a remark he said upset some white voters. “I had to do a lot of work to try to tame that,” he said. “I was the only one speaking for African Americans, who were hit the hardest.”
Nagin recommended the new four-hour Spike Lee documentary, “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts,” which premiered in New Orleans before 7,000 people Wednesday night and is to be shown on HBO on Monday and Tuesday and again on Aug. 29.
“Spike Lee has a piece out that starts to deal with the real issues,” Nagin said. “Don’t be bamboozled to think that people in New Orleans can’t get the job done. Give us the resources and get out of the way.”
Asked what personal responsibility he took, the mayor said, “at the end of the day, I’m ultimately responsible.” Asked to name the mistakes he made, he said he would have relocated the evacuation buses, which became flooded themselves, outside of the city, and said, “The thing I’ve probably lost the most sleep about is whether we should have called for a mandatory evacuation earlier.”
Questioners included Michele Norris of National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” Trymaine Lee of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Bryan Monroe, NABJ president; Anzio Williams, news director of WDSU-TV in New Orleans; Kristen Mack of the Houston Chronicle, Suzanne Malveaux of CNN and Corey Dade of the Wall Street Journal.
“I thought it was great the mayor was here,” Malveaux, CNN White House correspondent, said in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “Progress is so slow and there’s a certain frustration as to why that’s the case.”
“He answered some real tough questions and handled it well,” Monroe told the paper. “It is clear there is a lot more story to tell.”
But Deggans wrote that “Naginâ??s words rang hollow for New Orleans native Tiffany Zeno, 31, who could barely hold back tears as the mayor finished his speech. Now working as a producer for Indianapolis NBC affiliate WTHR-TV, Zeno noted her family only recently received a trailer from federal authorities to use as a temporary home â?? nearly a year after Katrinaâ??s Aug. 29 impact.
“‘Iâ??m not impressed. . . . I think he sidestepped questions and didnâ??t address the issues,’ she said. ‘Heâ??s talking about people getting $5,000 signing bonuses to work at McDonaldâ??s, but my mother has a masterâ??s degree. There are professionals who want to come home, but they canâ??t find jobs.’â??
- Adena Andrews, NABJ Monitor: Nagin: Black media missing stories
- Tim Evans, Indianapolis Star: Nagin says media must continue its Katrina reporting
- Necie Green, NABJ Convention Online: Nagin tells journalists the storyâ??s about rebuilding
- Ken Kusmer, Associated Press: Nagin cites red tape, racism for problems
- Rickeena J. Richards, New Orleans Times-Picayune: Nagin speaks of race’s role in Katrina
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Yen Do, Pioneer Vietnamese Publisher, Dies
“Yen Do, who published the Nguoi Viet Daily News, the first and largest Vietnamese daily newspaper in the nation, died Thursday afternoon. He was 65,” Mai Tran and Stuart Silverstein reported Friday in the Los Angeles Times.
“Do died of complications of diabetes and kidney disease at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, according to his eldest child, Anh Do, English section editor and vice president of community relations for the newspaper.”
“In 1978, Do established the Nguoi Viet, which means ‘Vietnamese People.’ Initially a four-page weekly that he printed in his Garden Grove garage, the newspaper would grow and help shape the Southern California Vietnamese exile community.
“It provided information to refugees, whose lives were upended by the Vietnam War, and guided them with articles on how to adjust in their new land. It reconnected loved ones separated by the war and offered tips on how to register children for school and how to obtain a driver’s license.”
- Deepa Bharath, Orange County (Calif.) Register: Do’s death leaves void in Little Saigon
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Spanish El Paso Paper Fires Reporter After Error
“An El Paso Spanish-language newspaper has retracted a front-page story that proved false and fired the reporter who wrote the piece, according to a front-page correction published Thursday,” the Associated Press reported on Thursday.
“El Diario de El Paso Editor Gerardo Rodriguez said reporter Alberto Ponce de Leon was fired after an internal investigation into a story published Wednesday that reported a verdict in the federal trial of the former head of the FBI in El Paso.
“Ponce de Leon’s story said Crawford Hardrick Jr. had been found not guilty Tuesday night; in fact, a jury convicted Crawford on two counts of lying to federal investigators Wednesday afternoon.
“Reached by telephone Thursday, Ponce de Leon told The Associated Press he made a mistake and misunderstood a conversation with a defense lawyer in the case. He said the error was not intentional.”
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Sharpton Calls It Disservice to Look to One Leader
“Black Americans cannot look to only one leader to address critical problems ranging from racism to the scourge of violence on inner-city streets, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Thursday,” Tim Evans reported from the National Association of Black Journalists convention Friday in the Indianapolis Star.
“‘We have never had a single leader, and we never should,’ the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate said during a panel discussion at the 31st annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists, which is meeting in Indianapolis through Sunday. Sharpton said blacks must look to leadership from people with expertise in different disciplines, based on issues rather than perceptions or personalities.
“‘It’s according to what the black leader’s discipline is,’ Sharpton said. ‘We would be silly arguing about whether any one of us is the central whatever . . . When we get into this debate of looking for something we never had, I think that it is absolutely a disservice to our people.’
“Rochelle Riley, a columnist with the Detroit Free Press who also participated in the panel, said that too many people waste time asking who’s in charge instead of stepping up to fill leadership roles. ‘Black people in America do not have time to play the name game anymore,’ she said. . . .”
Sharpton also said many potential young black leaders fall under the spell of the “gangster mentality” and are preventing themselves from making a positive impact in politics, Cliff Brunt reported Thursday for the Associated Press.
“The key to leadership is having the individual initiative to change the status quo, said Sharpton,” Brunt wrote.
Sharpton spoke at the convention’s annual W.E.B. DuBois lecture. He was also asked whether he would make an encore performance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” where he was guest host in December 2003. He said he appeared on the show during the 2004 presidential campaign because the media had painted such a “hateful” picture of him, and thought that “maybe if I did that, white folks would see I’m not so hateful.” Earlier, Jesse Jackson appeared on the show for the same reason, he said.
- Darren Sands, NABJ Convention Online: Sharpton opens up on journalists
- Sharpton broadcasts from NABJ (photo, NABJ Convention Online)
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Black Children’s Asthma Linked to Global Warming
“The Weather Channel is getting off the fence and into the middle of the global warming debate with a new program that will explore how climate change affects people in this country and elsewhere,” columnist DeWayne Wickham reported from Indianapolis Thursday for Gannett News Service.
“‘We’re finally saying the weather isn’t apolitical and it isn’t an act of God — it’s more complicated than that,’ Heidi Cullen, a climate expert with the 24-hour weather network, said Wednesday during a breakfast meeting at the National Association of Black Journalists convention.
“Cullen, who earned a Ph.D. in climatology and ocean-atmosphere dynamics at Columbia University, will host the ‘The Climate Code,’ which premieres Oct. 1 on The Weather Channel.
“. . . But while the scientific issues surrounding global warming are becoming clearer to many Americans, the way it affects us is not as clear.
“For example, the high rate of asthma among black children can be linked to global warming, said Janet Johnson, a vice president with The Weather Channel who is overseeing development of Cullen’s show.
“‘We can directly link that to air pollution,’ she said. ‘I’m really hopeful that that won’t be too much of a leap for parents to see.’
“For me, that’s the real promise of Cullen’s show. If it works, it will help people understand the link between manmade weather changes melting distant polar ice caps and changes in their everyday lives,” Wickham wrote.
