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Yesterday, the New Orleans Saints lost the NFC Championship Game to the Chicago Bears. A win would have taken the Saints to the Super Bowl. I didn't really have a rooting interest in either team, but looking at today's coverage and the coverage leading up to the game, I must admit a part of me is glad the Saints lost.

That's because in their quest to turn the Saints' surprising season into a feel good story, sportswriters around the country couldn't help but tie the fortunes of the team to the fortunes of their city. To some extent that was justifiable, as the Saints' success surely did lift the spirits of some New Orleans residents. But people in the press have a tendency to take such connections too far. At times, reading the coverage, it felt like we were being told that a Saints Super Bowl win would have magically solved New Orleans' problems. And while such a win surely would have been good news for the city, the challenges New Orleans faces in the wake of Katrina have little to do with the outcome of a football game.

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As regular readers recall, there was quite a bit of controversy about a "60 Minutes" report on New Orleans that included an interview with St. Louis University professor Tim Kusky. (In the piece, Kusky is shown telling correspondent Scott Pelley that "[w]e should be thinking about a gradual pullout of New Orleans," because, thanks to coastal erosion, New Orleans will be a "fish bowl" by 2095 – a city completely surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico. "New Orleans is going to be 15 to 18 feet below sea level, sitting off the coast of North America surrounded by a 50- to 100-foot-tall levee system to protect the city," he added.)



We discussed the controversy here. The New Orleans Times-Picayune also printed a lengthy story about it entitled "NOT SO FAST, '60 MINUTES.'"



The reason the report stirred such emotion, Pelley says, is that "People in Louisiana are desperately hoping that the federal government is going to come up with billions of dollars to restore the city and protect the city. It's not at all clear at this point that that is going to happen. People in Louisiana are very concerned anytime someone raises their head and says we don't know if this is a good idea or not. When a high profile story goes on the air that has just one guy saying 'just hold on a second,' they react passionately to that."



Now USA Today has weighed in on the issue in an editorial, comparing rebuilding efforts to the city's plans for Mardi Gras. Here's the paper's take:

The [Mardi Gras] plan seems fitted to the circumstances — a slimmed down version that honors tradition but recognizes New Orleans' new reality.



Money is tight, so the city is seeking sponsors to help underwrite its expenses. Nonetheless, in a bow to tradition, Mardi Gras organizers will not allow commercial sponsorship of floats and parades.



Perhaps this undertaking provides a model for the city's more daunting challenges. Scale back on dreams of recreating the pre-Katrina city. Seek creative financing. Be flexible. Above all, don't lose what is the quintessential New Orleans.

USA Today doesn't get more specific than that, but this seems to be an effort to split the difference when it comes to rebuilding New Orleans. Stay tuned.

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This Sunday's "60 Minutes" featured a story entitled "New Orleans Is Sinking." The piece included an interview with a St. Louis University professor named Tim Kusky. In the piece, Kusky is shown telling correspondent Scott Pelley that "[w]e should be thinking about a gradual pullout of New Orleans," because, thanks to coastal erosion, New Orleans will be a "fish bowl" by 2095 – a city completely surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico. "New Orleans is going to be 15 to 18 feet below sea level, sitting off the coast of North America surrounded by a 50- to 100-foot-tall levee system to protect the city," he added.



Kusky's argument drew criticism even before the segment aired. After seeing a preview on the "60 Minutes" Web site last week, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco's hurricane recovery chief, Andy Kopplin, asked "60 Minutes" to hold the piece in a letter. "We are very concerned about the preview of your story on New Orleans' future posted on the '60 Minutes' Web site and hope it is not an accurate reflection of your work," he wrote. "We know of many scientists and engineers who have spent considerable parts of their careers becoming experts in addressing coastal land loss in Louisiana and who disagree fundamentally with Prof. Kusky's purported comments." He added: "I cannot request strongly enough that you delay the airing of your story and immediately get in contact with some of these scientists in order to provide your viewers with scientific objectivity as well as balance in your report."



Attached to Kopplin's letter was a letter from Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, who disputed Kusky's argument and wrote that an op-ed by Kusky published in the Boston Globe in September concerning New Orleans was no better than "an undergraduate paper" deserving of a low grade. "I am extremely disappointed that the widely viewed and well regarded '60 Minutes' would base a story on such an incredibly important issue on an 'expert' with so little standing on the subject and not seek the best scientific perspectives available," Boesch added.

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John Cooper is a freelance cameraman who has been working as one of the “roving cameramen” for Newspath, CBS’s news service that provides material for the network’s affiliates across the country. He has been in New Orleans for two weeks, traveling around the city with a producer and a correspondent, seeking stories and filing daily for CBS affiliates.



Cooper has been with CBS News for about 10 years and has been in the news business for 20, covering many hurricanes throughout that time. He has traveled the world working on various documentaries, and most recently, he traveled with CBS News to Iraq to cover the war and to the Georgian Republic to cover President Bush’s visit to the region.



As Hurricane Rita approaches the Gulf Coast, Cooper remains in the area and isn’t yet sure when he’ll return home. On Wednesday, as the city continued to recover and prepare for Rita, he shared his impressions of New Orleans in recent days — from a brutally honest and unique perspective:

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Imagine, CBS News being criticized by conservatives for being unfair to a Republican President. Never thought we’d see the day. Okay, I know this is about as newsy as announcing all the planes that land safely at La Guardia but it is part of what I’ve said we will address here at PE so, here goes.



The Media Research Center yesterday took issue with a story on Tuesday night’s “Evening News” about recovery efforts in New Orleans, focused on small businesses. You can see the story by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi by clicking on the player below.










And here’s the heart of MRC’s criticism:

"After reciting a list of problems people are having in New Orleans, reporter Sharyn Alfonsi jumped to a soundbite of Bush in Mississippi, declaring: 'Every time I come back here, I see progress.' Alfonsi gratuitously pointed out that Bush was 'speaking inside an air-conditioned tent' and noted how 'he toured a Folgers plant in Louisiana' but, she stressed, 'small business owners say this kind of progress is the exception.' Then, over video of a row of damaged and abandoned store fronts in New Orleans, she countered: 'This is the reality.' Alfonsi made it personal, holding Bush responsible for the frustrations of a French Quarter restaurant owner: 'After five visits in three weeks, they want the President to wake up and smell the coffee.'"

“Evening News” Executive Producer Jim Murphy responds:

"Please explain to me what's WRONG with pointing out the President spoke from an air-conditioned tent, which to most people on the gulf would be a more than welcome relief from their existence. It was not gratuitous, it was an interesting note.



And Sharyn's use of the well-known phrase, 'wake up and smell the coffee,' was attributed to the restaurant owners as THEIR feeling, NOT hers. It's just good, colorful, pointed writing.



My problem with many of the MRC's complaints is that it regularly exaggerates the impact of whatever it disagrees with. If a President Clinton or a President Carter were in the exact same situation as this President, the MRC wouldn't peep about this script. It is a much more biased organization than any institution in the MSM."

My take on this involves several factors:

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The Washington Post's press writer, Howard Kurtz took a swing at "the media" for ignoring American poverty in general and in New Orleans specifically. For a national news organization like CBS, you wouldn't expect any special focus over time on one city, like New Orleans. And indeed a quick Nexis check turned up a series of stories touching on it – from a look at Louisiana’s “chemical corridor” to one mentioning police brutality in the Big Easy.


Kurtz quotes Newsweek approvingly which claims that "TV dislikes poor people." What is the evidence for that sweeping condemnation? Have they counted the stories? That's a good avenue for Public Eye to explore in the future and we will.




In the meantime, it’s probably a little unfair to compare a broadcast network with relatively limited time available and a daily newspaper on stories as big and complicated as this one. But as the debate continues over the new prominence of the issue, we wanted to point you to an in-depth piece that aired on CBS’ “Sunday Morning” yesterday. Correspondent Susan Spencer and producer Brian Healy do a bang-up job in looking at a touchy issue. And for television, that’s an accomplishment. Do yourself a favor and check this out.

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