Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy - Los Angeles Times

Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy - Los Angeles Times:

"His assessment is one of several in recent days to conclude that newspapers and television exaggerated criminal behavior in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, particularly at the overcrowded Superdome and Convention Center.
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Follow-up reporting has discredited reports of a 7-year-old being raped and murdered at the Superdome, roving bands of armed gang members attacking the helpless, and dozens of bodies being shoved into a freezer at the Convention Center.

Hyperbolic reporting spread through much of the media.

Fox News, a day before the major evacuation of the Superdome began, issued an 'alert' as talk show host Alan Colmes reiterated reports of 'robberies, rapes, carjackings, riots and murder. Violent gangs are roaming the streets at night, hidden by the cover of darkness.'

The Los Angeles Times adopted a breathless tone the next day in its lead news story, reporting that National Guard troops 'took positions on rooftops, scanning for snipers and armed mobs as seething crowds of refugees milled below, desperate to flee. Gunfire crackled in the distance.'

The New York Times repeated some of the reports of violence and unrest, but the newspaper usually was more careful to note that the information could not be verified."