NPR just played a series of snippits from private phone conferences between New Orleans officials before and after the storm. No matter how they received these tapes — which might be a different conversation all together — I found it interesting how NPR was able to spin local government accountability away.
Initially, the listener heard Nagin and Blanco discussing when they should spread the word to evacuate. This was Friday. Some officials piped in that they shouldn’t rouse people until they know for sure.
It was decided on Sunday that maybe they should move to notify people to evacuate by contacting local parishoners, since it was unlikely that many residents had been watching the news (Uh, riiight). There was also talk of the many supplies (generators, food, ice, etc.) that FEMA would supply in the event that they just contacted FEMA and set up the supply-line and drop-off areas.
Next (and last) clip: Friday morning. Nagin blessing out officials about not getting supplies. An infamous soundbite. Reminder: the storm hit Monday.
My question to NPR: What about the time inbetween Monday and Friday. What about the conversations about specific plans? Oh, wait, those didn’t happen. Did NPR highlight that? Nope. Instead, you guessed it, it was FEMA’s fault.
