Thursday, September 08, 2005

Katrina and the News ... Twenty years from now, when New Orleans has been rebuilt and things have long since returned to a new normal, Katrina will be remembered for at least two things. The first is the obvious incompetence demonstrated at all levels of government, both in its response to the storm and in its failure to adequately defend against it. (One reader even sent in this National Geographic article, which reads like an exact description of Katrina -- until you realize it was published in 2004.)

The second is that Katrina established the model for how network newscasts will work in the information age. Far from dying out, network news still have a lot of life left. The catch is that news programs now must have an anchor whose "brand" extends across a variety of media platforms.

If you haven't guessed it by now, the example I'm thinking of here is Brian Williams. His on-air reporting last week may have validated his selection as Brokaw's successor, but it was his on-line reporting for which he will be remembered. Earlier this summer numerous commentators noted the unprecedented access that Williams' blog granted his audience, particularly with regard to NBC News' editorial process. Now he has just one-upped himself. His on-line reporting just altered a story in a way that was once possible only on-air; this post yesterday forced FEMA to reverse course dramatically in its attempt to exclude reporters from New Orleans.

Unfortunately, to really flesh out the story of that post requires more time (and energy) than I currently have to spare. But the bottom line is that in a way Brian Williams has just reinvented network news, and it is for that transformation -- among many other, more troubling things -- that Katrina will in part be remembered.

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