Do we really know what is going on?

[WebmasterAlex]

I have to admit to being a little confused. All day long yesterday I heard screams of they are doing nothing and "WHERE ARE THE BUSSES". The media made it sound like not a single bus had come in.
All of a sudden last night they announced the Astrodome was full! Where the heck did those people come from????
I am starting to get the feeling the media is skewing this for their own purposes. If they evacuated enough people to fill the Astrodome and an overfllow facility there must have been a whole LOT of busses moving all day long.
I just heard this morning that military helicopters were dropping water and MRE's yesterday but I didn't see any video of that.
I am really starting to wonder if the media is showing what they want to show to increase the hysteria and up their ratings

 

[monkeyboy]

I am starting to get the feeling the media is skewing this for their own purposes.

ding ding ding we have a winner

 

[crz4mm2]

I am really starting to wonder if the media is showing what they want to show to increase the hysteria and up their ratings

Gee, they wouldn't DO that, would they ????
I have been thinking the same thing for days.

Cathy

 

[BuckNaked]

You might just have something there Alex.

 

[lucky978]

You have got that right. The media does this with everything they touch. They seem to think it's more "newsworthy" if things are going bad, so that's how they make things seem no matter what the real situation is.

 

[dadtoagirl]

I have to admit to being a little confused. All day long yesterday I heard screams of they are doing nothing and "WHERE ARE THE BUSSES". The media made it sound like not a single bus had come in.
All of a sudden last night they announced the Astrodome was full! Where the heck did those people come from????
I am starting to get the feeling the media is skewing this for their own purposes. If they evacuated enough people to fill the Astrodome and an overfllow facility there must have been a whole LOT of busses moving all day long.
I just heard this morning that military helicopters were dropping water and MRE's yesterday but I didn't see any video of that.
I am really starting to wonder if the media is showing what they want to show to increase the hysteria and up their ratings

Winner:

Election is coming up in a few years, gotta make the current administration look bad so it can be used against them in the coming months. Would you like the stuffed elephant or stuffed bear as your prize.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Yep. They acutally seem to be showing the same sad footage over and over too. DH who worked all day turned on the news last night and said he had already seen that footage. Seems they are showing the same bad areas over and over. I did see some people getting off a bus and thanking the rescuers, bus drivers, whoever! I think the bad areas they are showing are the ones that are overwhelmed and having logistic trouble AND gang trouble. These are where the newscasters are. There is a lot of good going on too...

 

[lyeag]

Ding Ding is right. I just heard a CNN interview where the question was asked, "Why aren't more elected officials complaining? Are they afraid if they criticize the federal government, they won't see any money?" This was within the last 10-15 minutes. That is so over the top I just about threw something at the screen. Makes Fox look angelic.

 

[cajunmommy]

Alex,
I'm beginning to think some of the coverage is sensationalized. They're showing the desparation & suffering at the Dome & NO Convention Center, but not showing the valiant survivors still in the Quarter, Uptown, etc. who are hanging on with their dwindling supplies. Chaos & suffering = ratings.

I know for a fact the busses are moving. I witnessed 3 different caravans of at least 6 busses each passing through Baton Rouge yesterday during my 15 minutes on the I-10.

The problem is they are needed everywhere! You're evacuating an entire metropolitan area, not just one building. How do you prioritize when so many are suffering over such a large area?

I'm also PO'd that they're playing the race card. What about the people on the North Shore, Plaquemines & St. Bernard Parishes?? Granted NO is <65% black, but the survivors in these areas are white, Vietnamese, other ethnicities. And they're not getting the help they need as well.

 

[peachgirl]

I am starting to get the feeling the media is skewing this for their own purposes. If they evacuated enough people to fill the Astrodome and an overfllow facility there must have been a whole LOT of busses moving all day long.

Actually, you can blame this one on officials in Texas. What I've read and seen is that they originally said they could take 20,000 people but in the middle of the night last night found out from the fire marshall that they were only allowed 10,000.

They had several busses in the parking lot at the time. People who had been living in horrific conditions and had traveled hours to get there got turned away and re-routed to other facilities in San Antonion, Dallas and one other city I can't recall.

It would be nice to think that this is all a creation of the media, but it's not.

 

[lyeag]

Yep. They acutally seem to be showing the same sad footage over and over too. DH who worked all day turned on the news last night and said he had already seen that footage. Seems they are showing the same bad areas over and over. I did see some people getting off a bus and thanking the rescuers, bus drivers, whoever! I think the bad areas they are showing are the ones that are overwhelmed and having logistic trouble AND gang trouble. These are where the newscasters are. There is a lot of good going on too...

Yes! I saw an interview with a man who had just gotten to the Astrodome yesterday and he started to say good things about the Pres. and and the mayor. The interview was suddenly over as soon as those sentences were out of his mouth.

 

[wuv tigger]

I too have seen the same footage.

Hey CCN, FOXNEWS, let's start showing some good things that are going on. I believe with all my heart that there are good things that just need to be put on tv!

I have to admit to being a little confused. All day long yesterday I heard screams of they are doing nothing and "WHERE ARE THE BUSSES". The media made it sound like not a single bus had come in.
All of a sudden last night they announced the Astrodome was full! Where the heck did those people come from????
I am starting to get the feeling the media is skewing this for their own purposes. If they evacuated enough people to fill the Astrodome and an overfllow facility there must have been a whole LOT of busses moving all day long.
I just heard this morning that military helicopters were dropping water and MRE's yesterday but I didn't see any video of that.
I am really starting to wonder if the media is showing what they want to show to increase the hysteria and up their ratings

 

[WebmasterAlex]

They keep showing the same footage over and over!
I know that CNN has an affiliate in Houston. Where is the footage of the busses arriving and unloading the refugees?
Where is the footage of troops arriving at the New Orleans airport?

 

[dvcgirl]

I have to admit to being a little confused. All day long yesterday I heard screams of they are doing nothing and "WHERE ARE THE BUSSES". The media made it sound like not a single bus had come in.
All of a sudden last night they announced the Astrodome was full! Where the heck did those people come from????
I am starting to get the feeling the media is skewing this for their own purposes. If they evacuated enough people to fill the Astrodome and an overfllow facility there must have been a whole LOT of busses moving all day long.
I just heard this morning that military helicopters were dropping water and MRE's yesterday but I didn't see any video of that.
I am really starting to wonder if the media is showing what they want to show to increase the hysteria and up their ratings

This is absolutely happening Alex. I was even surprised this morning when I saw that the Red Cross was set up and has been for days inside the Superdome. Why aren't we seeing this? We're seeing shots of masses of people surrounding one bus outside with National Guardsman around. Clearly they are evacuating people....

The media will turn this thing into a race war....

 

[WebmasterAlex]

Actually, you can blame this one on officials in Texas. What I've read and seen is that they originally said they could take 20,000 people but in the middle of the night last night found out from the fire marshall that they were only allowed 10,000.

They had several busses in the parking lot at the time. People who had been living in horrific conditions and had traveled hours to get there got turned away and re-routed to other facilities in San Antonion, Dallas and one other city I can't recall.

It would be nice to think that this is all a creation of the media, but it's not.

It's not all a creation of the media but even 10,000 people is a LOT of people to move! If you listen to the press they were giving the impression that nothing was being done, obviously that is not true.

 

[bananiem]

They say there are 100,000 people to move. If we guess that each bus can hold 60 people they need 1,067 busses. That's a whole lot of busses! It's going to take time!
I agree that the supplies are probably getting there. Again, it takes awhile to get to all 100,000 people.
I think the news stations should report teh true story and I don't think they are. We said the same thing about Al Jazeera saying only what they wanted the Iraqis to hear. Well, now our news stations are doing the same thing.

 

[Galahad]

Ding Ding is right. I just heard a CNN interview where the question was asked, "Why aren't more elected officials complaining? Are they afraid if they criticize the federal government, they won't see any money?" This was within the last 10-15 minutes. That is so over the top I just about threw something at the screen. Makes Fox look angelic.

I was thinking last night that it's pretty strange when Fox seems to be the "restrained" network.

 

[peachgirl]

It's not all a creation of the media but even 10,000 people is a LOT of people to move! If you listen to the press they were giving the impression that nothing was being done, obviously that is not true.

Again, that's not the impression I'm getting.

It was a lot of people. but to take these people all the way to Houston and not find out until they are sitting in the parking lot that they've changed the number they'll allow in is ridiculous.

I just listened to the President's comments before leaving to view the area. Even he says "the results are not acceptable" in regards to relief efforts.

I saw quite a bit of footage of the busses going into Houston yesterday, but a great many of them arrived in the middle of the night.


As I said yesterday, it was the media that informed the the director of FEMA that there were thousands of people at the convention center.

I've seen many stories about families re-united and other positive stories, but I don't think this is the time for the media to worry too much about feel good stories. It isn't the successes they need to worry about, it's the problems. Communications are horrible down there and if the media can play a part in making officials aware of problems, that's what they should be doing.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

I was thinking last night that it's pretty strange when Fox seems to be the "restrained" network.

ROTFL!!! OMG that is so true....

 

[ElizK]

I gotta tell you, yesterday after listening to and watching all the horrible things happening in NO, I wasn't having very many compassionate thoughts, I'm ashamed to say. Last night Dateline had a special on the devastation that showed people helping others, banding together to share what little they had, etc. That is a truer picture, I think, than the comparitively smaller number of looters, rapists, and murderers.

I have my compassion back, and I'm ready to help in whatever small way I can.