Winding down after a long day, I switched on the radio to hear
an advertisement for a TV show about a girl who acquired psychic
powers after surviving Hurricane Katrina. Strange events are now
occurring in New Orleans ““ tonight at 7, on Channel 6.
Sure, the real New Orleans isn’t haunted by a telepathic
girl’s mischief, but today it virtually appears as a ghost
town, according to third-year sociology student Farrah Bhaiji.
Bhaiji volunteered in New Orleans with a group of UCLA students
in early May through the volunteer organization Relief Spark. Eight
months after Hurricane Katrina, the surreal picture is completed by
the desolate streets, the houses literally lying on their sides and
the makeshift villages of tents.
But for some reason, real-life surrealism just doesn’t cut
it for TV, while tacky scripts manage to fill prime-time slots.
The media responds immediately when these events are breaking
news, but as soon as they fade into old news they are quickly
forgotten.
News about Katrina saturated the media quickly after it struck;
today, crisis in the city is still severe, but it hardly receives
any coverage.
The media has the upper hand in determining which national
events receive our attention, obscuring our perception of the
reality in these places.
Since the average citizen has neither the time nor the equipment
to travel and investigate current events firsthand, we rely on the
media for our information about the world.
Whether we like it or not, we’re enslaved to the version
of the world the media decides to market.
I spoke to some students who actually did get a chance to travel
and investigate current events in New Orleans by volunteering. But
their firsthand accounts of New Orleans’ devastation
aren’t reflected in the media coverage of today.
According to the students I talked to, New Orleans remains a
city infiltrated by mold.Bodies are still being found, with body
counts and inspection notes often spray-painted on the houses.
Education is haphazard, with students crammed into temporary K-12
settings. Many survivors are still homeless, living in places such
as trailers and cars.
Additionally, in order to prevent their homes from being
completely bulldozed in late August, many people are frantically
finding means to gut their houses by ripping away appliances,
drywall and essentially all parts of the house except for the
foundation. This process is strenuous and requires the use of full
protective gear such as oxygen masks, hard hats, boots and other
thick apparel.
Such efforts require the help of many people because of the
sheer amount of work that needs to be done.
Diana Essex, a third-year international development studies
student and one of those who helped coordinate UCLA students to go
help in New Orleans, noted the volunteer presence was smaller than
she expected.
Essex and participant Becky Brewer, a third-year sociology
student, said someone at the volunteer shelter mentioned it had
housed more than a thousand volunteers at one point.
Brewer said when they went to New Orleans, the shelter
accommodated them and just one other group of volunteers.
Brewer noted that, “Because the awareness has tapered off,
I think the volunteerism has tapered off.”
The attention spans of the public and the media are cruelly
short.
Though it’s not necessary to continue with the influx of
disaster coverage after time has passed, it is frustrating when
media coverage falls off altogether.
In some instances, such as the case of New Orleans, this sudden
loss of attention can result in decreased volunteerism, stalling
efficient recovery.
True, news stories can’t broadcast the same Katrina
coverage over and over again. But they should offer significant
coverage of the ongoing cleanup issues to help sustain public
activism.
When it comes to reality, the media just doesn’t show
enough, unless it’s following the recent hype of breaking
news.
The result? The creation of a false perception of reality, in
which scripted shows take precedence over coverage of real, ongoing
crises.
Maybe I’ll tune in to the show advertised on the radio
““ at this point, it seems to offer the closest possible
glimpse into the ongoing horrors in New Orleans.