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Year of the Storms:
Stories Yet to be Told |
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Poynter President Karen Brown Dunlap asked participants in Poynter's recent Covering Hurricanes conferences to share "one journalistic lesson that you've learned in covering Katrina and the aftermath." Here are some of the lessons shared, as compiled by
Candace Clarke:
"I have learned, or re-learned, just how important what we do is to the communities we serve. Covering Hurricane Katrina has given me tangible evidence of the impact journalism has on people's lives."
-- Drew Tarter, photo director, The Sun Herald
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"There are two lessons I learned that cannot be segregated in my mind because they overlap on the time continuum from the moments of disaster to the human and community recovery - days, weeks and months later:
The first is journalism's absolute necessity in this information-laden world. It fills the void where people in sympathy, empathy and who are living the disaster need to see, feel and hear what is happening.
The second is to sometimes kick start the conversation. There are so many things happening all at once, journalism serves as a tool to focus the communal conscience. People need to be told what is important, what to concentrate on and how to address it."
-- Mike Keller, staff writer, The Sun Herald
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"Katrina reinforced the need to be flexible and persistent. From the satellite phones of the early days to the football game story filed from a laptop plugged into my Jeep's cigarette lighter and a bank of free Bell South phones in a pitch black shopping center parking lot, we have to get the stories out. It can be done, and we know how to do it from anywhere, at any time and any way possible."
-- Don Hammack, sports writer, The Sun Herald
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"Take the important equipment with you - stay organized in your car. It's worth going back into the mud-swamped office for your Rolodex."
-- Karen Nelson, reporter, The Sun Herald
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"My assignment during Katrina was to go to Columbus, Ga., and get the paper out from there. I learned no matter what the situation we can count on fellow journalists, both in and out of Knight Ridder, to help us with whatever we need. the offers to help were non-stop, and the compassion we saw was overwhelming."
Blake Kaplan, assistant city editor, The Sun Herald
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"Listen to as many people as you can - standing in line with them, in every day situations...to learn what they're talking about - their problems., their needs."
-- Lisa Monti, business editor, The Sun Herald
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"The biggest lesson I learned from Katrina derives from my greatest regret. I was out of town during the storm - my grandmother had a stroke. Her life was probably not in danger, my family knew. But the storm wasn't supposed to be a major one for our area, broadcasts seemed to be telling us. I got back into Mobile and was on the ground reporting later the day of the storm, but I regret not being in Bayou la Batre during its most desperate hour.
The lesson I learned is to measure decisions and their consequences more carefully. I've done some valuable work since the storm, I feel. But I'll forever regret not being there for the storm itself."
-- Russ Henderson, reporter, The Mobile Register
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"I was reminded that every picture you shoot matters, and every picture depicts history.
Never forget that what we do day-to-day is produce a historical document."
-- Smiley Pool, photographer, Dallas Morning News
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"I've learned many lessons from covering Katrina. I learned that it's difficult to cover an event that you're also living - but it has made my writing better. I have heard many people's stories, and I've learned how strong we are - as a profession, as a community and as a people, and how important it is that all these stories be told.
I've learned how good people can be. The response from churches, cities and community groups has been overwhelming. Sometimes journalists tend to be cynical - well, much of the time - and this has taught us all that tragedy brings out the goodness in people."
-- Melissa Scallan, education and weather writer, The Sun Herald
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"I learned just how important the media is and is needed. We became first responders as well as journalists. For the first time in a long time, we were needed, and in turn were able to provide a service over and above the norm.
While we serve as the voice of the public everyday, this storm brought out that voice in a way that all could hear and understand - we were also the voice that brought back a sense of normalcy to a hurting community. 'It was good to hear a familiar voice," were the words that echoed during and after the storm.'"
-- Randy Swan, anchor/news director, WDAM TV
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"I learned so many things over the last three months, but I think the most important lesson is how important it is to identity and utilize resources.
At The Sun Herald, we were very fortunate to have an outpouring of help and support from our Knight Ridder sister papers and as well as corporate. At times it was overwhelming to have so many resources at our disposal. But by the same token, I learned fast how to employ and deploy those resources to best tell our story quickly."
-- Kate Magandy, city editor, The Sun Herald
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"You not only need to focus on the disaster before you, but be able to think out of the box, to view from above and to be ever vigilant in watching government at its most and least obvious points.
Be compassionate. Be human. But don't be so involved with victim sympathy that you are afraid to appreciate how your readers and others deserved some of the damage. We put ourselves beside a glass of water filled to the brim, built our homes to insufficient code levels, subsidized putting them in flood and surge zones, then complained when a cyclical act of nature made the water in that glass spill over. We built poor levees and ran them corruptly. We allowed an emergency agency with a legacy of waste and ineptness to remain inept and wasteful, to even be consumed by a bigger bureaucracy. And we didn't tell people strongly enough to get out when it was clear they needed to.
One of our most important tasks as journalists is to learn the lessons of the tragedy and make the casualties' experiences pay off for those in the future. We need to respect our readers' losses, yes, but tell them what they and their leaders did wrong to prevent further losses from storms that are not a possibility, but an eventuality."
-- Paul Cloos, assistant managing editor, Mobile Register
