Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Who's Helping?
On the radio, I heard a story that troubled me. The host was interviewing one of the TV reporters who's been on the scene in New Orleans. She told of meeting a lively old fellow who asked her for help in getting his insulin. "I'm shutting down," he told her. She said she'd do what she could, said something to a National Guardsman, and then went to do a few stand-ups. When she checked back in a little while, the old man was dead. She reports his death as a failure of the system. But could she have done more for him, instead of going off and standing in front a camera to talk about the lack of human services?
1 comment:
In times of crisis, the lines defining the roles people play are often blurred beyond recognition. In the vacuum of order in Iraq, our soldiers are policemen. Firefighters will certainly be clearing rubble for weeks and months along the battered shores of Mississippi.
However, this this woman is a reporter, and her job must remain unique. She is charged with bearing witness, for all everyone not in NOLa, to the tragedies befalling the people affected by Katrina. If everyone dying of diabetes-related complications had reporters helping them look for insulin, would any of us know that medical care in The Crescent City has essentially been suspended for 10 days?
Did the reporter report the man's death, including herself in explaining the situation? I doubt it. That would have been her excuse not to fufill her duty to a fellow man - broadcast a real-time example of the third-world conditions that currently strangle one of America's cities.
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