Katrina
Reporters Tell of Covering Katrina
In the first segment of a Media Speaker Series, two Buffalo reporters talked about their experiences in covering Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Steve Cichon and Barbara Burns, reporters with WBEN Radio, told of the 11 days they spent in New Orleans and surrounding parishes. They had been called to the area by their station's corporate owner, Entercom Radio, to assist reporters at WWL in New Orleans. WWL was one of the few news media to remain on the air in the days following the hurricane. Local television and newspapers were unable to operate for several days.
Steve talked about the reporters' efforts to "get it right," particularly to tell the story of devastation and both the negative and positive responses that the local residents had. He told students of the difficulty of sorting fact from rumor. He also talked of the challenge of distilling 20 hours of observation a day into a three-minute newscast.
Barbara told students of "unprecedented cooperation" between Entercom and a competitor, Clear Channel radio in Baton Rouge. Clear Channel provided space after windows blew out of the Entercom headquarters in New Orleans in a coalition effort to provide continuing news to the people of New Orleans. In response to student questions, Barbara also explained the differences between local radio reporting and national coverage by television and newspapers.
Radio professor Tom McCray moderated the panel discussion, which attracted 125 Communication majors and other students in Communication courses. This was the first segment of what the department plans as a continuing speaker series in which local and visiting media professionals will address contemporary issues.
(Fall 2005)