I've been bleating in this space for months, in one way or another, about the yawning gap between the MSM's orgy of self-congratulation over its Katrina coverage and the pathetic actuality of that coverage. Tonight on New Orleans public television station WYES, the local pundit yak show came back on the air after a K-enforced absence, so this was these guys' first crack at the whole subject. John Hill, who covers the state capital in Baton Rouge for Gannett newspapers, was acidic in his assessment of the national media's performance. "They didn't know what they were talking about." He contrasted his first-hand reporting at the Superdome, where he saw groups of families taking turns sleeping so as to care foe each others' kids,to the view on his TV at home to Baton Rouge-- Anderson Cooper talking about rapings and killings that turned out not to be true (the "families" angle was seconded yesterday by an African-American acquaintance who was here during the ordeal). Concluded Hill, who, remember, works for a major newspaper owner: "I'll never trust the cable networks or the network news again unless (they're reporting about) their own city." Meaning we can believe what they tell us about...New York, Atlanta, and Secaucus?
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