Media Watchdog Attributes Embellished Katrina Reports to Media Bias
by Allie Martin
October 3, 2005
(AgapePress) - An official with the Media Research Center says revelations that national media exaggerated reports of criminal activity in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina are not surprising. Last week several media organizations admitted they recycled and amplified many unverified reports of violence in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. For example, reports of the number of dead -- especially at the Super Dome and the New Orleans Convention Center -- were exaggerated.
Michael Chapman, a spokesman for the Media Research Center in Virginia, says there was a clear agenda behind much of the false reporting.
"A lot of this has to do with liberal bias to exaggerate and to make the effects and the consequences in the aftermath of the hurricane, specifically in New Orleans and the people affected, to look as bad as possible," Chapman asserts. Why? "Because that, in turn, reflects badly on the government officials, but also ultimately on the Bush administration," he suggests.
The Times-Picayune newspaper published a story last week examining the exaggerated claims of crimes and civil unrest following Katrina. The MRC spokesman says the media must be more responsible in its reporting.
"It certainly further erodes the credibility of the establishment media, not only in those who are 'news junkies,' but among the American people in general who rely on these folks for information," Chapmen says. "It also paints a very terrible picture of the United States abroad."
Since the hurricane hit, estimates of deaths at the Super Dome have been revised downward from 200 to 10. Four of those deaths were heart attacks. In addition, shortly after the storm New Orleans Police superintendent Eddie Compass appeared on television claiming that babies had been sexually assaulted at the Super Dome. Those reports turned out to be unfounded. Compass announced his retirement last week.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
