Public eye

The coverage of the storm has raised questions about the ultimate function of the press corps, as well as the nature of journalistic objectivity.

What do you think of this post on Public Eye about the reactions of the press during Hurricane Katrina?.....Especially since the press isn't really supposed to react in any discernible way but merely observe.

...Heyward says Van Sant would have crossed the line had he called for officials to be fired..

How does that compare to the Times-Picayune calling for the head of FEMA to be fired? One might argue* that a journalist or media outlet suggesting such a thing is alright since they are behaving as a surrogate or proxy for the public (who, in this case, were repeatedly asking for help and for the head(s) of government officials). How about during the Vietnam War? Should it have been OK then? Or is it just because this tragedy happened here and not in some country 'over there'?

*I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this topic. I'm sort of playing devil's advocate here....

SAFRAN: Ya know, I'm on the wrong side of the popular blogger opinion on this one and I'm going to get flamed mercilessly for this. Everyone is applauding reporters for showing emotion, tearing up, calling for heads to roll... that's simply not our job. The Times-Picayune has an editorial page for this sort of thing. They have a longstanding policy of issuing opinions - as editorials. Reporters on TV should not editorialize. For one - it is not a reporter's place to speak for the network. But mostly, it's not about the reporter. Reporters are not cold, robotic, unfeeling people. But they HAVE to let their subjects convey the emotion. The moment you get caught up in the crisis, you lose objectivity. Also, I think the reporters need to give the audience a little credit - we can tell when a sitution is horrifying, and we don't need someone there to do it for us. Spontaneous bits of emotion are one thing. We're human. Walter Cronkite choked up when he announced the death of President Kennedy. But the continuous, stagey nature of some of the coverage of Hurricane Katrina troubles me. We should not be attacking the government, regardless of how strongly we feel or how just it seems.