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Gulf Oil Spill Isn’t “Obama’s Katrina,” It’s The Media’s

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by Colby Hall | 3:41 pm, May 4th, 2010

» 12 comments

obama_katrina There are a number of reasons to believe that the oil spill story currently unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico is close to entering the pantheon of “epic” news stories. For starters, it’s earned its own shorthand moniker of “Gulf Oil Spill.” It’s also got its own branded graphics package on the cable news channels. But more importantly, it’s beginning to be exploited as a political device, most notably being called “Obama’s Katrina.” Well, there was a delayed response on this story, but it wasn’t by the administration. If the oil spill is anyone’s “Katrina,” its the media’s for taking almost week to cover it on an appropriate scale.

How did we get here? Well, news of the initial oil rig catastrophe first broke on Tuesday, April 20th. In the next few day, there were some terrific and horrifying images that came across the wire, and reports of a small oil spill began to surface. At that time, however, little was known about the story. Given that the offending rig was so inaccessible, it was difficult to send reporters or a news crew to the region to cover the story, which is a legitimate explanation.

But sources from at least one cable news outlet confirmed privately that the cost of sending reporters or a crew to the Gulf to cover this factored into the decision to not cover it – even though there was the clear understanding that this could very well be a big story.

But more importantly, just as the story was beginning to come in to more focus on Friday, April 23rd, the Arizona Immigration bill was signed into law. It was almost as if one could almost hear the nation’s collective news editors deciding that the Immigration Law was to be the controversy for the next few days. And was it ever. Over that weekend, and the two days that followed, the Arizona Immigration law dominated the news, seemingly at the cost of the oil spill coverage.

In fact, through a partnership with TV Eyes, we can determine exactly how many times the words “oil” and “spill” were said in comparison to “Arizona” and “immigration” on television over the course of those first few days.

Following is a comparison of how the broadcast media covered the two stories in the earliest stages of the oil rig calamity:


Date	Broadcast mentions of “Arizona Immigration”	Broadcast mentions of “Oil Spill”
April 23	1,451	1,925
April 24	2,239	729
April 25	1,745	569
April 26	2,044	823
April 27	2,537	795
April 28	2,193	2,502
April 29	1,514	2,624

If you are a more visual person, and need to see these numbers in handy chart form to better understand the news trends of these days, I submit:

Why does the previous research end on April 29th? Because that’s the day that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (working in close communication with Federal authorities) declared the situation to be a “state of emergency”, which also coincides with the day that the media actually started paying attention to the story.

In the past few days, a number of talking heads and media analysts have asked the question whether this oil spill should be considered “Obama’s Katrina,” implying that the administration was slow to respond to this environmental catastrophe in much the same way President Bush was criticized by some who thought he was very slow to understand and act upon the scale of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. There is a valid debate about how quickly and effectively the administration reacted.

On the 22nd, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs released a statement on the President’s Oval Office meeting to discuss the situation in the Gulf of Mexico that outlined rescue efforts, and announced that the National Response Team had been activated and Unified and Area Commands have been established near New Orleans to coordinate search and rescue operations and oil spill response efforts.

However, during a press conference on April 23rd, Gibbs was a bit more cavalier when asked about how the situation “I don’t honestly think it opens up a whole new series of questions, because, you know, in all honesty I doubt this is the first accident that has happened and I doubt it will be the last,” Gibbs said. Again, one can debate the merits of the Administration’s response, but to call it “Obama’s Katrina” reveals more of a political agenda than a fair or astute analysis.

Unlike Katrina, the scale of this was not immediately knowable – the news initially broke that just the leak was relatively small. And of course, hindsight is 20/20 – no one can be blamed for not predicting the future.

It is odd, then, that so many in the media took the “Obama’s Katrina” political meme and ran with it — multiple examples of the metaphor’s usage can be seen in The Daily Show clip below. But the truth appears to be that the government’s response was within the realm of an appropriate reaction from the very beginning of this disaster. It’s the members of the media, however, that should be asking themselves “is this our Katrina?”

barack obama, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Oil Spill, Jon Stewart, obama, Obama's Katrina, Robert Gibbs

Bias-Media

the Media taking the fall for the Obama Administration? Really (sic)?

Regardless if the media reported this or not, the Obama administration should have been on this issue.

Case and point: if the media did not report on the tragedies of Katrina, would that mean that the Bush Administration would not be held accountable for the mis-management of Katrina’s aftermath?

Last time I checked, Obama can walk and chew gum at the same time…
http://TheDividedStatesBlog.com Publius219

It’s funny, I wrote an article on a very similar thing. Although I don’t exactly see how the lack of media coverage means that the administration was on it “from day one”. It is interesting to see the # of mentions across the news though. And Obama better be chewing Nicorette.

If you’re interested here’s the article I wrote.

http://thedividedstatesblog.com/2010/05/03/oil-spills-hurricanes-and-cocoa-puffs-how-media-fails-us-all/
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The count so far is about 3 million gallons of oil has been pumped into the Gulf of Mexico. So just the cost of the oil wasted is about $6,000,000. The cost to our coastlines, our economy, our national security rises every day this continues. So including the average cost estimates of the clean up rapidly approaching 4 billion dollars

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lucyreddy

The Obama Administration had aid waiting in the wings in this case, should this become worse than initially thought.I came to know that the White House says the social activist singer joined with Obama, along with members of his national security staff, to talk about ways to make sure U.S. foreign aid is effective. They also discussed opportunities for using innovation and technology to drive economic growth in Africa.
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http://www.cargiant.co.uk/cars/usedcars.asp nairatyler

It’s really a shame that we don’t have any adults in the White House. Do any Democrats remember Harry Truman’s saying,”The buck stops here?” No, present day Democrats are busy pointing at others to blame because the present girlie-men in the WH are too busy demonizing their political enemies to actually do the work of governing.
All weekend, the ‘Day One’ mantra was repeated to cover Obama’s butt. It’s not about what happens to the shoreline, it’s about how Obama is perceived. Progressives don’t give a rip about the environment. They are all about having and wielding power. used car
http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

“Drill” is not a dirty word among U.S. voters, even after the big BP oil spill. A Zogby poll reveals that 63 percent support the expansion of offshore drilling.
errxn

Wrong, Colby, but you’re close. If you’re talking about lack of reponse by either government OR media, how about the absolute lack of attention to what was going on in Nashville? The city was being inundated this past weekend, and only in the last 24 hours or so has there been any, ANY, sort of coverage. And it still sucks.
ex political-media hack

colby hall is such a …thumbs on the scale, hack.

(takes 1 to know 1)

im a dem and dems have opposed offshore drillingfor decades…

until obama.

by opening massive leases for drilling…he IS doing BP and the oil companies biding.

plus Gibbs says that the white house is standing by its massive lease and drilling plan…

will Obama never learn?

“better judgement” his advocates like colby hall said about him during during the primaries…

bullshittte!

and with the White Houses refusal to continue to call for a overturn of decades long dem policy to oppose opening new areas to drilling – how long will it take for Obama’s enablers to admidt that the Obama response to this spill and the explosion that happened weeks ago was slow – minimal and totally insufficent.

the explosion happened weeks ago. the us navy started moving their booms just days ago. (the navy has most of the booms being used. theyre bringing 47 miles of boom)

we need many miles (100 plus as of last friday) of bomb and until this weekend the government had brought 1 to 2% of what was needed.

also, according to leaked NOAA documents – the spill has grown in size so – that only 1 to 2 percent of it has been sprayed with dispersants.

why?

i say blame bush for anything but who is in charge of the military now as commander in chief

1 to 2% of booms on site – half of which must come from the fed govt’s Navy…

only 1 to 2% of the spill was sprayed by dispersement by last friday..

it took his giveaways to his campaign contributors in big banking, big pharm and big insurance for me to wonder whether we should have a lefty challenge to him in 2012.

his position on overturning decades long dem policy against opening vast new areas to oil drilling and his awful and late response to the spill (while he still refuses to withdraw his hideous give away to big oil) now makes me sure of it.
ex political-media hack

Leaked report: Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become unchecked gusher
By Ben Raines

A confidential government report on the unfolding spill disaster in the Gulf makes clear the Coast Guard now fears the well could become an unchecked gusher shooting millions of gallons of oil per day into the Gulf.

“The following is not public,” reads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Emergency Response document dated April 28. “Two additional release points were found today in the tangled riser. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought.”

Asked Friday to comment on the document, NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said that the additional leaks described were reported to the public late Wednesday night. Regarding the possibility of the spill becoming an order of magnitude larger, Smullen said, “I’m letting the document you have speak for itself.”

In scientific circles, an order of magnitude means something is 10 times larger. In this case, an order of magnitude higher would mean the volume of oil coming from the well could be 10 times higher than the 5,000 barrels a day coming out now. That would mean 50,000 barrels a day, or 2.1 million gallons a day. It appears the new leaks mentioned in the Wednesday release are the leaks reported to the public late Wednesday night.

“There is no official change in the volume released but the USCG is no longer stating that the release rate is 1,000 barrels a day,” continues the document, referred to as report No. 12. “Instead they are saying that they are preparing for a worst-case release and bringing all assets to bear.”

The emergency document also states that the spill has grown in size so quickly that only 1 to 2 percent of it has been sprayed with dispersants.

The Press-Register obtained the emergency report from a government official. The White House, NOAA, the Coast Guard and BP Plc did not immediately return calls for comment made early this morning.

The worst-case scenario for the broken and leaking well pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico would be the loss of the wellhead and kinked piping currently restricting the flow to 5,000 barrels — or 210,000 gallons — per day.

LATER REPORT: Video shows federal officials knew quickly of potential for massive oil flow in Gulf spill
If the wellhead is lost, oil could leave the well at a much greater rate.

“Typically, a very good well in the Gulf can produce 30,000 barrels a day, but that’s under control. I have no idea what an uncontrolled release could be,” said Stephen Sears, chairman of the petroleum engineering department at Louisiana State University.
kieronnpollard

But sources at least one cable news outlet has confirmed privately that the cost of sending journalists to cover the crew of the Gulf this decision does not taken into account for this – although it was clear that this would be a great story.
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AmericanCowboy

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