Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Floods happen all the time but I am amazed how the OP tries to make this a political or racial issue.
Nashville was not ignored but these news stories usually take time to develop. How many of you remember the horrible flooding we had here in Florida?
Do a bit of research and you will see a trend.
The MSM reports on what gets viewers....riots, etc grab headlines better than neighbor helping neighbor do.
The off news sites had so many more "good" Katrina aftermath news than the MSM did.
The MSM pick and choose what they want to make important.
Guns, blood and violence rank at the top.
I don't buy the Newsweek excuse. Compared to the coverage of New Orleans flooding, the news media virtually ignorred Nashville.
New Orleans is strongly Democratic party while Nashville is Republican
New Orleans is majority black people while Nashville is majority white people (at least, that's the perception)
And the above two things listed are why I think they ignored Nashville.
I think the reason is multi-fold, but race isn't one of them.
The Oil spill & Times Square bomb are much bigger news to the New York centered media. The Oil spill supports the media's left leaning meta-narrative on enviromentalism & the evils of fossil fuels. These pushed the TN story off the front page. (Not saying they are really more important, but they are in the minds of NYC centric media producers.)
New Orleans fit multiple media meta-narratives. A. Poverty and race B. global warming (AGW casues hurricanes in this narrative) and in the aftermath C. The Bush administration's incompetence. Also NO made better headlines - Rape gangs in the Superdome!! Doctors euthanizing patients!! National guard to the rescue!! Add in all the great visuals of USCG choppers pulling folks off rooftops, etc and from a TV producers perspective, Katrina was a much more reportable story. Nashville has none of these.
I'm not saying its right, but it is how the media works.
I highly doubt we'll be seeing a national network telethon to help Nashville with Toby Keith announcing "Barrack Obama does'nt care about white people"
New Orleans is strongly Democratic party while Nashville is Republican
New Orleans is majority black people while Nashville is majority white people (at least, that's the perception)
And the above two things listed are why I think they ignored Nashville.
1. I read the Newsweek opinion piece. I don't agree with the conclusions, especially considering that a major component of the author's research was, as he said in the article, a "cursory Google News search."
2. The Nashville flooding was covered, at least in the media I pay attention to. Most reasonable people would acknowledge that it had serious competition for air time/Web space. Had there not been a major environmental, political, and economic disaster occurring in the Gulf, and an attempted terrorist attack in New York City, I'm sure the Nashville flooding would have received more national/international attention. But to say that it was virtually ignored by the news media is completely false.
3. Comparing the Nashville flooding to the impact of Katrina (and it wasn't just New Orleans, by the way) is absurd.
I live in Nashville and the waters flooded the street right below mine because I'm near the river. I had friends calling and emailing from all over the country asking how I was doing because the news coverage was so extensive that everyone knew about it. The OP is apparently trying to make some sort of political statement but it's not an accurate assessment of how the news media reacted to this flood.
It should also be noted that Katrina was a massive event that was much more costly in terms of lives and the cost of rebuilding.
There was a big flood a year or two ago in one of the midwest states..Iowa maybe and that got little press too. For the same reasons the OP mentions I'll wager.
Its funny you mention that. I remember like 20 years ago there was a big flood in the Midwest and the media was filled with stories of rock-ribbed Midwesterners working the sandbag lines to hold back the rising waters and helping each other throught the tragedy. It was a heroic story about ordinary people rising to the challenge. Very inspiring.
Fast Forward to Katrina and the people effected by the floods have all become victims. I think this is one of the biggest changes in how these things are looked at.
I don't buy the Newsweek excuse. Compared to the coverage of New Orleans flooding, the news media virtually ignorred Nashville.
New Orleans is strongly Democratic party while Nashville is Republican
New Orleans is majority black people while Nashville is majority white people (at least, that's the perception)
And the above two things listed are why I think they ignored Nashville.
So the media is racist? I thought racism no longer existed in the USA. I get it the only racism that exists in the USA is racism against White people. Got it.
Its funny you mention that. I remember like 20 years ago there was a big flood in the Midwest and the media was filled with stories of rock-ribbed Midwesterners working the sandbag lines to hold back the rising waters and helping each other throught the tragedy.
Yeah, I saw the movie, wasn't Cissy Spacechick in that one?
Quote:
Fast Forward to Katrina and the people effected by the floods have all become victims. I think this is one of the biggest changes in how these things are looked at.
If you can't comprehend the difference between rising water and the total collapse of a levee system...
It's kind of hard to help one another out when everybody is treading water.
New Orleans is strongly Democratic party while Nashville is Republican
New Orleans is majority black people while Nashville is majority white people (at least, that's the perception)
And the above two things listed are why I think they ignored Nashville.
You forgot the biggest reason of all, there is no one person, political party, corporation, or ideological policy or agenda to pin it on, and demonize.
There is no political angle to skew the flood story towards, no one to for the race baiters to demonize, no one to be held up as a victim of the mean old Republican Party, and no glorious topic to shout bombastic rhetoric from the top of their soapbox.
With Katrina they had Bush and republicans to demonize, and plenty of political campaign fund raisers to be had.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
