Journalism @ Missouri State

Katrina panel podcast

2005-10-26T23:27:13Z

Panel Discussion

Reporting on Disasters: How Well Did the Media Cover Katrina and Rita?

Wednesday 26 October 2005 2:00 p.m. Plaster Student Union Room 313

Here is the complete podcast of today's panel plus a few moments of video (QuickTime).

Issues of race and class

2005-10-26T19:44:11Z

Professor Tom Dickson says the media must explore all the reasons the government's response failed, including uncomfortable questions of racism and misunderstandings of poverty.

Springfield News-Leader Executive Editor Don Wyatt says class issues were important--especially regarding coverage by journalists who no longer "look" like the working class. "We don't feel comfortable getting down into the places poor folks live."

Live Blogging from the "Reporting on Disasters: How Well Did the Media Cover Katrina and Rita?" panel discussion at Missouri State University. Listen to the complete podcast:

Q&A ongoing

2005-10-26T19:35:19Z

We're in the Q&A period now. I'll be slowing down a bit. Be sure to check the podcast for the complete panel.

Live Blogging from the "Reporting on Disasters: How Well Did the Media Cover Katrina and Rita?" panel discussion at Missouri State University. Listen to the complete podcast:

Questions of money

2005-10-26T19:27:39Z

Professor Tom Dickson thinks the media should be looking into the money: Who is getting the payoffs from the government (FEMA)? "We'll be paying the bill for this for a long time, and the media needs to be covering this for a long time."

Springfield News-Leader Executive Editor Don Wyatt reminds us that Katrina is a story here in Springfield. We are housing the displaced.

Live Blogging from the "Reporting on Disasters: How Well Did the Media Cover Katrina and Rita?" panel discussion at Missouri State University. Listen to the complete podcast:

Qustions of objectivity

2005-10-26T19:26:57Z

Professor Mark Paxton channel surfed during the event and took note of the political talk assigning blame.

Instructor Cheryl A. Hellmann asks: Who are journalists and who are not (re: the pundits)? And we should be questioning the blogs. What kind of information are we getting? "I don't think the general audience distinguishes."

Assistant Professor Janice K. Windborne wonders how many are getting their information from Jon Stewart--certainly entertaining, but credible information?

Lecturer Jack Dimond says the talking-head shows lead to "morons" discussing complex news situations.

Live Blogging from the "Reporting on Disasters: How Well Did the Media Cover Katrina and Rita?" panel discussion at Missouri State University. Listen to the complete podcast:

Some ethical questions

2005-10-26T19:16:23Z

Assistant Professor Janice K. Windborne questions the number of self-referential stories. Offended by stories in which media figures cover themselves as heroes. Ted Koppel saved Rose, but does he know where Rose is now? What's happening to her?

Instructor Cheryl A. Hellmann thought Brian Williams did excellent work. No problem with journalists getting "choked up" by the human stories. They didn't lose their humanity. But she thinks Andersen Cooper engaged in unprofessional antics by his getting in the face of officials in a boorish way.

Live Blogging from the "Reporting on Disasters: How Well Did the Media Cover Katrina and Rita?" panel discussion at Missouri State University. Listen to the complete podcast:

First thoughts

2005-10-26T19:05:20Z

Springfield News-Leader Executive Editor Don Wyatt questions the value of having Andersen Cooper of CNN, and his ilk, standing out in the wind as a way to make the public understand that hurricanes are important news events. He likes the coverage he was seeing online, i.e citizen journalism.

Professor Mark Paxton praises nola.com. "That was some of the best journalism I've ever seen."

Professor Tom Dickson says some coverage claimed the media had finally awakened from its stupor. He agrees. "The put the administration, FEMA on the defensive." Made some official look like idiots. Not necessarily fair and balanced, but important.

Assistant Professor Janice K. Windborne says in a misguided attempt at balance left some official, and FEMA, off the hook.

Live Blogging from the "Reporting on Disasters: How Well Did the Media Cover Katrina and Rita?" panel discussion at Missouri State University. Listen to the complete podcast:

We're off!

2005-10-26T19:02:42Z

Here's the first image. Dr. Pardue is now doing the intros. Stay tuned!

Professor Tom Dickson (left)
Professor Mark Paxton

Live Blogging from the "Reporting on Disasters: How Well Did the Media Cover Katrina and Rita?" panel discussion at Missouri State University. Listen to the complete podcast:

5 minutes away

2005-10-26T18:48:29Z

We're 5 minutes away. Here is a list of the panelists:

Professor Tom Dickson
Professor Mark Paxton
Assistant Professor Janice K. Windborne
Instructor Cheryl A. Hellmann
Lecturer Jack Dimond,
Springfield News-Leader Executive Editor Don Wyatt.

The moderator is Dr. Mary Jane Pardue.

Panel is set; See you at 2 p.m.

2005-10-26T17:29:38Z

Panel details:

Start time: Today at 2 p.m. CDT
Live blogging on this weblog.
Podcast will be available later this afternoon here and on Rhetorica.
The panel will also air on The Growl. I'll post air times here and on Rhetorica as they become available.
Send your questions by e-mail during the panel to: j_msu -at- rhetorica.net.
We won't be able to accept Skype calls.

Some Thoughts on Katrina

2005-10-24T18:48:19Z

Having lived in New Orleans, I followed the TV and newspaper coverage closely and was horrified, like other Americans, by the events reported in the media. For a number of reasons that the panel likely will address, the story caught the attention of the American public to a greater extent than other natural disasters have. The media had many obstacles in covering the story, both in obtaining information and in determining its accuracy. Because of those obstacles, the media now admit they got some things wrong. That the media are critiquing their own coverage is a healthy sign. The media’s efforts showed once again the importance of the mass media in a democracy. And in the post-disaster coverage, the media also have done a major service to the public by giving coverage to the way federal funds have been spent and other problems with the recovery efforts in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Certainly, the media will learn from their mistakes. One wonders if federal, state and local government will, as well.

Hurricane coverage panel at Missouri State

2005-10-24T14:36:31Z

One role of the media in society is to serve as an independent monitor of power. Oftentimes we're talking about monitoring big business or the government. Few, however, would disagree that the media has tremendous power. So I think it's healthy for journalists to step back in the weeks after a big story to assess their coverage. It's important to be willing to turn as critical an eye on ourselves as we do on others. I hope this panel will offer a variety of opinions about what the media did well or poorly on these stories. We have a several participants all with significant professional and academic backgrounds. We should hear a variety of points of view. The panel is Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2-3 p.m. in PSU 313.

Katrina panel press release

2005-10-24T14:29:35Z

Reporting on Disasters: How Well Did the Media Cover Katrina and Rita?

A Panel Discussion at Missouri State University

It did not take long for journalists to begin patting themselves on the back for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina. And it did not take long for critics to challenge them. From arguments over contentious interviews to the definitions of "looting" and "refugee," the press coverage of hurricanes Katrina and Rita shared the headlines with toxic floodwaters, rising death tolls and daring rescues.

A panel of local journalism experts will assess the media coverage of recent disasters in conjunction with "Remembering Katrina and Rita: Restoring Hope," a benefit program sponsored by the College of Arts and Letters at Missouri State University.

The program begins on Wednesday, Oct. 26 with the panel discussion "Reporting on Disasters: How Well Did the Media Cover Katrina and Rita?" at 2 p.m. in the Ballroom West of the Plaster Student Union on the Missouri State campus.

Six panelists will deliver short statements assessing media coverage from their various perspectives and then field questions from the audience and from the internet.

The panelists include Professor Tom Dickson, Professor Mark Paxton, Assistant Professor Janice K. Windborne, Instructor Cheryl A. Hellmann, Lecturer Jack Dimond, and Springfield News-Leader Executive Editor Don Wyatt.

The panel moderator will be Assistant Professor Mary Jane Pardue who helped lead the disaster coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks for the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Assistant Professor Andrew R. Cline will live blog the event, making the panel discussion open to any interested citizen with an Internet connection.

The panel will also be podcast on The Rhetorica Network (rhetorica.net) and streamed on the Missouri State student Internet radio station The Growl (thegrowl.missouristate.edu).

The panel, sponsored by the Missouri State University Department of Media, Journalism & Film, is free and open to the public. Those unable to attend may follow the panel at the Journalism @ Missouri State weblog (rhetorica.net/MJF/) and send questions by e-mail to j_msu -at- rhetorica.net.

The College of Arts & Letters will hold a benefit concert on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. at Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts on the campus of Missouri State. A reception will be held in the Grand foyer following the free concert. Donations will be accepted for the Red Cross and Convoy of Hope.

"Through this concert we want to express solidarity with the victims through performance, in our unique Arts & Letters way, and we invite others to join us in this commemoration," said Acting Dean Gloria Galanes.

Send questions to the Missouri State panel

2005-10-13T18:10:16Z

Coming soon: A complete list of panelists and program features--including: live blogging and a podcast.

As part of the live blogging of the event, I encourage those of you outside the Springfield area to send questions by e-mail (including linked examples of any kind) before or during the event: j_msu -at- rhetorica -dot- net.

Wading toward home

2005-10-10T14:24:26Z

Michael Lewis writes a first-person account of returning to New Orleans for The New York Times Magazine:

There's a fine line between stability and stagnation, and by the time I was born, New Orleans had already crossed it. The difference between growing up in New Orleans, starting in 1960, and growing up most other places in America was how easy it was to believe, in New Orleans, that nothing meaningful occurred outside it. No one of importance ever seemed to move in, just as no one of importance ever moved away. The absence of any sort of movement into or out of the upper and upper-middle classes was obviously bad for business, but it was great for what are now called family values. Until I went away to college, I had no idea how scattered and disjointed most American families were. By the time I was 9, I could ride my bike to the houses of both sets of grandparents. My mother's parents lived six blocks away; my father's parents, the far-flung ones, lived about a mile away. I didn't think it was at all odd that so much of my family was so near at hand: one friend of mine had all four of her grandparents next door, two on one side, two on the other. At the time, this struck me as normal.