Spring Break
Katrina a media failure says speaker
Sarah Warnock, Contributing Writer
Issue date: 11/3/05 Section: News
When people are ignored by the media they don't see a complete picture of themselves and others don't see them at all-they become invisible, said Lewis Diuguid, columnist and vice president for community resources at the Kansas City Star during a presentation in Old Main Tuesday.
Diuguid's lecture, "A Dialogue on African-Americans and Journalism in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina," highlighted the mistakes made by the press in covering the Gulf Coast disaster.
"I think the media really dropped the ball on Hurricane Katrina," Diuguid said.
The first mistake the "white mainstream" press made was sending mostly white reporters to cover the "big story as usual," he said.
The media sent white reporters who did not have the proper tools to cover the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Diuguid said.
"Journalists are supposed to take stories that they hear and turn them into something concrete," he said. "Those stories didn't get told, because the reporters who were sent were unable to fully communicate with the people who were stuck there."
Diuguid quoted W.E.B. Dubois, an African American civil rights activist, who said, "People of color look at things in America through a double conscious," as both Americans and African-Americans living in America.
The press made another mistake by the choice of words that were used to describe, or define, activities undertaken by mostly African-Americans in the days following the hurricane.
The word looting was often used to describe scenes of African-Americans entering stores and leaving with products primarily consisting of food and hygiene supplies.
"But you have to ask yourself some questions," Diuguid said. "Were any of the stores open? Were there very many lights on anywhere? No. These people were just trying to get food and personal hygiene items to survive."
Diuguid discussed a photograph of an African-American couple carrying food above their heads that they had apparently taken from a store as they walked through floodwaters. The photo's caption read, "Trying to survive." Another similar photograph, he said, was described as looting.
Diuguid's lecture, "A Dialogue on African-Americans and Journalism in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina," highlighted the mistakes made by the press in covering the Gulf Coast disaster.
"I think the media really dropped the ball on Hurricane Katrina," Diuguid said.
The first mistake the "white mainstream" press made was sending mostly white reporters to cover the "big story as usual," he said.
The media sent white reporters who did not have the proper tools to cover the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Diuguid said.
"Journalists are supposed to take stories that they hear and turn them into something concrete," he said. "Those stories didn't get told, because the reporters who were sent were unable to fully communicate with the people who were stuck there."
Diuguid quoted W.E.B. Dubois, an African American civil rights activist, who said, "People of color look at things in America through a double conscious," as both Americans and African-Americans living in America.
The press made another mistake by the choice of words that were used to describe, or define, activities undertaken by mostly African-Americans in the days following the hurricane.
The word looting was often used to describe scenes of African-Americans entering stores and leaving with products primarily consisting of food and hygiene supplies.
"But you have to ask yourself some questions," Diuguid said. "Were any of the stores open? Were there very many lights on anywhere? No. These people were just trying to get food and personal hygiene items to survive."
Diuguid discussed a photograph of an African-American couple carrying food above their heads that they had apparently taken from a store as they walked through floodwaters. The photo's caption read, "Trying to survive." Another similar photograph, he said, was described as looting.
