Wanted: Media skeptics ( re rumors and lies printed in wake of Katrina)

[NorthernSpy]

From the Arizona Republic:

The savage aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans was beyond belief. You remember:

The news accounts of the brutal rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl inside the city's convention center as armed mobs swept through the flood evacuees.
The 30 to 40 bodies of murder victims stored in the refrigerators. Snipers shooting at medical crews trying to aid victims.

These accounts were reported by officials and self-proclaimed eyewitnesses, and the nation's broadcast and print reporters ran with the stories and, though it hardly seems possible, expanded on them.

Now it turns out that all of those reports were bogus. And that, perversely, those false rumors delayed military response because planners mistakenly thought they needed to make preparations for possible armed combat with mobs.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/1003mon2-03.html


I'm glad to see editorials like this, but it isn't enough. I refuse to accept that the media can spread slander and incite the public against an endangered population, and then just shrug it all off with a few half-hearted mea culpas and the usual empty promises of doing better next time.

Where are the consequences?

Some countries criminalize the reporting of false news that has the effect of inciting hatred. I'm interested in finding out what legal remedies might be available to the victims in this case.

[Nothing Without Hope]

1. I'm all for pushing for strong exposure of the hate- and fearmongering

behind the relentless pushing of these stereotyped rumors as fact. I have a file of bookmarks called "Reports, rumors and hyping of violence & looting" and continue to collect them. I don't know what form legal action might take - a class action suit of some kind? But the hatred and racial division left in the wake of this despicable "reporting" is poisoning the country in a major way. And so far, it's been allowed to stand, since I don't think back-page, small-print mea culpas make any difference whatsoever.

It's the most blatant, awful racism, and it was leveled at the most traumatized, vulnerable people. The results have been tragic beyond anything seen publicly in this country in decades. I have a file of those incidents - buses of evacuees not even allowed to stop for toilet breaks because towns had deputies with shotguns ready to keep them moving on, hate radio commentators laughing about how the black evacuees were "like ticks on dogs" and were "too fat to drown" and were "coming soon to a community near you." Saying that maybe it was time to rethink the idea that racial prejudice was wrong. All this was said to laughter, plus a satement by the host that she was boycotting all monetary aid to the evacuees. And on and on.

I don't have strong enough words.

edited to add links for the two examples I just mentioned (among many):

the buses not allowed to stop:
http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15293465&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6
the horrible hate radio statements:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/Issues/2005-09-22/news/metro4_print.html

Excerpts from both of these are given in this post (a reply in a thread):
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4932192&mesg_id=4942950

If there is a collection of links for hyped/false reporting of violence, I'd be happy to add whatever of my own collection isn't there yet. Such a common collection would be a valuable resource. It may already exist, but I don't know of it.

[NorthernSpy]

2. I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you're doing!

Thank you a thousand times over!

Looks like it's up to us few concerned citizens to see to it that defamation is not allowed to stand.

Some people are bound to call me vindictive about this, but I don't care. I couldn't drop this thing if I wanted to.

Once again, thank you for helping to set the record straight!



(edit: typo)

[Why Syzygy]

3. In light of this TRAGIC situation

and Billy Bennett's morally corrupt mouth, was thinking today .. who would have ever thought that black people would be our next "enemy".

I saw the civil rights abuses in the deep south in the 60s as a young girl. Did not understand it then. Do NOT understand it now.

All of our civil liberties have been raped by the Patriot Act, et al. "They" have harassed ME peoples since 911. Now they think we're just going to sit by while they do their damnedest (and I mean that literally) to destroy a whole diverse population?

No way. Let it NOT BE!

Freedom on the MARCH, mofos.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. That must be a pretty big file of bookmarks

because almost every story during the first week of Katrina lead with reports of looting. It was such a blatant attempt to demonize the people of New Orleans that the people involved should be prosecuted. Their irresponsible reporting and the attitude of BushCo caused many needless deaths.

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. Not so very big, since I'm not always here to catch them. I've got 17

bookmarks currently in the "faux violence" file and 38 currently in the racism/classism file. I am hoping someone will link to a collection site for links to articles and other documentation of the falseness of these reports. Then we can all check in and pool our resources.

I do believe it is deliberate, with murderous consequences both short and long-term.

[newswolf56]

4. One way might be for a class action suit against all the media:

filed in federal court on the basis of "diversity of citizenship" and charging that every media report broadcast or published after the FAA denial is malicious libel -- "malicious" because in the case of any post-FAA-announcement dissemination, it can be proven the story was known to be false. (In some jurisdictions this is also called "criminal libel"; I do not know what it is called in the federal statutes: I am a journalist, not a lawyer.)

However such a case is built, the trial would be extremely interesting, for it might force white America to acknowledge the depth of its malevolent racism -- in my opinion every bit as vicious as 50 years ago, just more closeted.

Meanwhile here is a link to another developing thread on this matter -- a thread on which there are many relevant comments (including my own):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1822657&mesg_id=1822657

[NorthernSpy]

8. (aaargh -- I posted this message in the wrong thread!)

:dunce:

Sorry 'bout that...

[Nothing Without Hope]

5. Another one for your collection - there were NO validated examples of

shots fired at rescue hellicopters. But of course the false "reports" provided an excellent excuse for blocking life saving of stranded, desperate people in the flooded areas. How many died because of propagation of these vicious lies? And was the propagation deliberate? Surely the relentless "reporting" of the violence horror stories by the media was at a minimum incredibly shoddy journalism - with deadly consequences.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1822657
Thread title: Shots at helicopters shrouded in a `fog'

[jus_the_facts]

9. Thank you for caring so much....

....your enthusiasm for the truth and the people who have been shit upon down here astounds me...doesn't give me much hope that anything will ever be done to correct the wrongs though as the last 5 years and now what's gone on down here has left me without the ability to have any. :cry:

[jus_the_facts]

10. .

[NorthernSpy]

11. thank you!

:)

Take heart, jus_the_facts! We haven't lost this one yet.

There IS hope!