Nagin: Black media missing stories
By Adena Andrews
Monitor Staff Writer
With the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaching, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said black media is not doing enough to cover the emotional and financial struggles of his city’s residents.
Nagin said there should be more stories about miscommunication between FEMA and city officials and residents’ inability to receive help from the federal government. The city’s residents are being “jerked around,” he said in an interview with the Monitor prior to appearing on a panel at noon titled “Covering Katrina: Truth and Consequences” at the Indiana Convention Center.
“The city of New Orleans has been forced to operate on a $120 million dollars in loan money when normally the federal government would give people grants,” he said.
The mayor also said there isn’t enough original reporting on African Americans in New Orleans by black media. “I see a lot of mimicking,” Nagin said. “The black media is influenced significantly by what the white media discuses.”
Mayor Nagin couldn’t be further from the truth! And, he really needs to clarify what he means when he says “black media.”
If he is talking about black journalists at white-owned publications, then he his bone should be with the papers there and not with those newspapers and their managers or publishers — not the journalists. And, for the most part, I’d say media in general tends to overlook “the big picture” and focusses instead on “mainstream” news or news that fits, so to speak. (The ongoing coverage of the Jon Benet Ramsey murder case is a good example of this type of mentality prominent in media.).
However, when it comes to Black owned publications, I’d say they focus more on the Black community than anyone else. And if any mimicking is going on, it’s vice-versa. The white-owned publications are the ones following the news leads in Black-owned publications. Yes, they have their “black faces” covering them, but rest assured, if the local Black paper is doing its job — and most of them are — then the white-owned daily is paying attention.
…By the way, I never got a return phone call from Mr. Nagin when I was writing a story about the New Orleans runoff elections; Louisiana Secretary of State called back, though. I spoke to him (and the Rev. Jesse Jackson) for a story I did on those elections…and I was not even reporting from Louisiana!
People need to learn to stop throwing blanket statements around so loosely and start utilizing their own know-how and saavy to get coverage of the news they want.
That’s my two cents.
Andre Coe aka “Baddpawn”
andrecoe@yahoo.com
myspace.com/westexaskid
Nagin should apologize immediatly for his comments regarding the “hole in the ground” in NY. I live in Va. and am still offended!
[...] already heard from notables like The Rev. Al Sharpton, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the world’s first black female [...]
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