Safety Issues: Katrina Politics Mesmerizes World Media

(2005-09-18) SafetyIssues.com

Meanwhile, solutions wanting in communication, coordination and collaboration during natural disasters worldwide, claims SafetyIssues.com.

While organizations and innovators around the world struggle to improve public safety during natural disasters, a State Department Media Reaction report shows that the foreign media commentary about Hurricane Katrina focuses primarily on foreign policy and broad social concerns.

The key findings of the report are confirmed by SafetyIssues.com through its Hurricane Katrina News Directory (http://www.safetyissues.org/katrina) which includes local Katrina news coverage in 19 foreign countries. The online news and media browser shows that Britain, Canada, India, Italy and China have published the most number of foreign articles about Hurricane Katrina, followed by Germany, France, Malaysia, Russia and Israel.

According to the Media Reaction report:

* Critics attribute the disaster's scope to the Bush Administration's not learning from 9/11.

* Observers see hurricane coverage as revealing America's "largely hidden" social problems.

* Some writers say their colleagues are using the tragedy to "take a crack at" President Bush.

* Scattered editorials convey the impression that the U.S. has refused foreign assistance.

The following are the major themes identified in the report:

'How is it possible that the country is so ill prepared?' -- Many writers linked their Katrina observations to the 9/11 anniversary, expressing surprise at "how poorly the U.S. government reacted to the catastrophe four years after 9/11." Belgium's financial De Tijd declared that four years after hijakers showed the nation was "vulnerable" to foreign threats, "today it is clear that the nation is also vulnerable internally." Croatia's left-of-center Dnevnik contended that Americans "should legitimately expect that mechanisms, which failed four years ago, have been improved since then." Administration critics asserted that the post-9/11 security system has focused on terrorism, not disasters, per sé. "Katrina, the first test of the system, has demonstrated that it is a complete failure."

'Americans can no longer turn a blind eye to social and racial inequalities' -- Tokyo's liberal Asahi was one of many outlets to claim that Katrina "showed the world the seriousness and the sorrow of this social problem [racial income disparities] facing the U.S." A Polish weekly observed, "Even...Condoleezza Rice...is not able to lower the level of the pointed attacks aimed at her unfortunate boss." While a racial divide was most often mentioned, writers contended that other "deep cracks in U.S. society have now been disclosed." Contrasting Katrina's aftermath to post-9/11 America, Germany's left-of-center Frankfurter Rundschau declared, "Despite great individual solidarity, we can no longer speak of a united nation." Remarking on "system failures that have been neglected for years," a Romanian writer emphasized how an American metropolis "crashed back into the Middle Ages, in only a couple of hours."

'Derision and demonizing are definitely out of order' -- Some columnists blasted the "simple-minded anti-Americanism" of their colleagues. France's right-of-center Le Figaro contended that Bush's critics couldn't "pass up" a chance to "underscore President Bush's negligence" and the supposed effects of "Yankee liberalism." Sweden's liberal Expressen dubbed reflexive editorial condemnation of American social policies as "malicious and conceited speculation.... What one thinks of President Bush with regards to Katrina seems to depend on his or her political affiliation in the same way as they regard other deeds of the President." Prague's center-right Lidove noviny contrasted Bush's media critics with "columnists in local dailies (in Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico etc.) [who] describe him as...doing a very good job."

'Apparently, the Americans see no possibility to effectively use foreign aid' -- Several outlets conveyed the erroneous message that President Bush had made a "categorical refusal to accept humanitarian aid."

The complete Media Reaction report can be read at:
HURRICANE KATRINA: LESSONS STILL TO BE LEARNED
http://www.safetyissues.org/katrina/foreignmedia.htm

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Related stories from SafetyIssues.com:

Safety Issues: Hurricane Katrina Safety Lessons Lost on Local Media
http://www.i-newswire.com/pr46643.html

Safety Issues: Virtual Situation Room Tracks Hurricane Ophelia
http://www.i-newswire.com/pr46546.html

Hurricane Katrina News Directory Powered by Google News
http://www.i-newswire.com/pr46460.html

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Contact: John Simmons,
Chief Technology Officer
703-992-6689
johnsimmons@safetyissues.org