why do we never hear about Mississippi post-Katrina, all you ever hear about is new orleans ?

Question

as a Mississippi resident who went thru the storm, i lost everything. many towns and cities were destroyed in mississippi. the media and hollywood would have you believe only new orleans was affected. The levees broke because of mismanagement of funds,to repair them since the early 1920's. Bay St.Louis,MS(my hometown) took a direct hit, and was almost completely destroyed. New Orleans was grazed by the storm. I am so sick of the celebs that go on and on about N.O. I saw with the rest of America, the devastation and destruction. I just feel that an over emphasis was placed on them because of "heritage" wll what about my heritage. What are we not people also?

Answer 1

I agree with you completely. I'm from Alabama and we don't hear much about the damage from Katrina to Alabama even though that hurricane destroyed a number of communities. Communities like Bayou Le Batre which has been all but destroyed because it is a fishing (shrimp, oyster, crab, fish) community. Over a third of its population are immigrants from Vietnam, Laos, etc. This is, even in the best of times, a working community. These people can't afford to rebuild but there are no great hordes of celebs crying out for charity work to be done here, for the working class in the Alabama coastal areas.

The thing is that even though the New Orleans was a failure of the levees, it doesn't matter to the victims in the end. If you lived in New Orleans or Bay St. Louis or Bayou Le Batre and your home and property were destroyed then you still are left with nothing regardless of whether it was the hurricane winds or the levees breaking that caused the damage.

I'm sad for the destruction of any historic area, but people need to realize that the Mississippi and Alabama coasts were also hit hard and also deserve and need attention and help. I agree with you fully. It makes me very sad to see Mississippi and Alabama overlooked. I'm sad for the people of New Orleans but personal tragedies occurred in all three states and all deserve attention and support.

Answer 2

Reason #1: The media spent so much time in New Orleans before Katrina made landfall it decided to stick around and prove it was right.

Reason #2: There were more people in New Orleans than in the other affected areas.

Reason #3: Once they were focused on New Orleans, they were too lazy to find other stories.

About 10 years ago the city of Andover, Kansas, got hit by a massive tornado, and every news outlet in the Midwest covered the story. Unfortunately, few people ever heard that the same tornado had destroyed hundreds of other homes on its path to Andover.

Answer 3

You know it is just like post 9/11. The pentagon and the people in the plane that went down were hurt and killed just alike, but what you hear about most is the twin towers. It is sad. I was thinking about this just the other day concerning New Orleans and Mississippi. Some of my family lived in Mississippi and they lost everything as well, and all they ever got was short little segments on the news. It is wrong and I wish they would not do that, but that is the way the media are.

Answer 4

I agree with you and I wish I had an answer. The best I know to offer you is because New Orleans is a big city that has alot of media ties. The media always presents what matters to them and no one else. People in television are self-centered, mindless, uncaring idiots who do whatever will benefit them. Long gone are the conversations of the Pentagon and the crash that happened in the fields of Pennsylvania. Oh wait, they were never there. The media morons gave 98% of the 9/11 coverage to New York. Maybe it's a coincidence that the top media companies of the United States are based in New York. Probably not.

Answer 5

Backing you on this one :(

While it's an educated guess, I suspect that the media and government is not ready to face down the public, if they learned about how much personal property was seized after Katrina in the state of Mississippi.

Realistically, it a racial issue. It's not a big deal for the press to ignore the majority white population of the coastal area of Mississippi. And you don't want that issue commented on in the press, it's just not PC.

I've heard no...none...nota mention of this in any newscast. But, I know many people that have not been allowed to move back, some residents with over 30 years in the same location were denied the ability to rebuild. Their homes were replaced with casinos and the like, after said property was seized (but paid for) by eminent domain for the casinos.

While residents of a BELOW sea level city, are being begged to return and rebuild.

Answer 6

More than likely, it's because New Orleans is a bigger city, and was more devastated by the Hurricane than Bay St. Louis, or even Biloxi and Mobile. New Orleans may've been grazed, but the levee system there still failed miserably.

Answer 7

Unfortunately we don't really hear too much about any of the post-Katrina. Welcome to the media. Whatever catches the viewers' attention is what the media will report on. Luckily there are still charitable organizations who still recognize the great need in both Louisiana and Mississippi. Hopefully people are still giving to those organizations to help those who are still in need from that horrible disaster.