Ethnic Media's Angle on Katrina Coverage

Each year, journalism students puzzle through this in their communications law or ethics classes: a terrible accident has occurred and you're the first one on the scene. Do you first help the ailing victim or begin shooting photographs that will award you Picture of the Year? An intellectual and moral debate ensues: are you first a Samaritan or a journalist? God, ethics, roles of a journalist all come into play. Some hope they'll be the model citizen, others the model reporter. In the wake of Hurriane Katrina, hundreds of journalists dealt with this dilemma for themselves, but for journalists representing the ethnic media it's rarely a question. In the face of the government's tortoise-like response to the hurricane victims, many ethnic media journalists decided they must cover the story and join the front lines of the relief effort.

Thuy Vu of Radio Saigon: a source of news and relief for Vietnamese hurricane victims

Instead of tuning in to CNN when they arrived in Houston, many of the 15,000 or so Vietnamese who fled Katrina used Radio Saigon, a Houston-based A.M. radio station as its primary source of information. Thuy Vu, the station's chief executive along with her husband, former refugees themselves, left their positions at the radio station and spent three days coordinating efforts at the Hong Kong mall, the heartbeat of the Vietnamese community there. As needs arose, she phoned them into the radio station employees, who then put them on the air, and within minutes scores of people showed up to donate supplies and volunteer--this was the case when they needed formula, doctors, shelter and a replacement relief coordinator when Vu had to return to work. "That's the good thing about ethnic media," she said, "you can kind of tailor it to the needs of the people." Now that most people have shelter, permament housing will be the next challenge. "Having been a refugee myself years ago, I know exactly what it's like to be a refugee and I know what needs to be done to help them," Vu told the Associated Press. "Some of us really have to relive the nightmare of being refugees all over again. It's very hard to be professionally journalistic about it. I believe sometimes a journalist has to put down their camera and their pens to help people." You can read and hear more of Radio Saigon's efforts here.


IMDiversity.com Reports on Affected Native American Population

News of what's happened to the Native American population in Katrina-affected areas appeared on IMDiversity.com last Sunday, 9/11. Apparently there are six native tribes residing throughout Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi that were devastated by the hurricane. Robert Holden, of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) has reported that little to no contact has been made with any of the tribal groups. One tribal representative who lived in Chalmette, a part of St. Bernard Parish, reported using the local high school as a morgue. The National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) has teamed with NCAI to initiate relief efforts for Native Americans in the three Gulf states. Holden told IMDiversity.com that many tribes from across the country have already sent trained responders and law enforcement to the affected areas.

Ethnic Media Outlet Push to Give their Stories a Wider Audience

Success was theirs when New California Media's (NCM) Sandy Close managed to get two stories of survival and relief from the Vietnamese community onto NPR. Old news for the Vietnamese press, these and other stories from underrepresented communities are beginning to create a gateway for stories of other distressed immigrant communities.

New California Media Commissioning a Poll

Recent polls have confirmed what just about anyone paying attention could have predicted: most African Americans think that the government would have responded to Katrina victims sooner had those suffering been white, while most whites think it wouldn't have made a bit of difference. This is just the sort of shortsighted poll Sandy Close of NCM is looking not to do. NCM plans to commission a national poll that will "draw the perspectives of ethnic and immigrant communities into the national discourse on the lessons learned from Katrina," said Close. "We need an inclusive discourse about Katrina--we need to make sure we hear from, learn from, inquire from all communities."