Clarification: Katrina-Video story
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) _ In a March 1 story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials.
The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking.
The day before the storm hit, Bush was told there were grave concerns that the levees could be overrun. It wasn't until the next morning, as the storm was hitting, that Michael Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had inquired about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that briefing.
However, it seems that the rest of the [snort chuckle] fourth estate has not got the news yet.
Who was it that said a lie will be half way around the world before the truth gets its pants on?
hat tip Powerline
Update: USA Today:
We don't normally work on the weekends, but the Associated Press has released a "clarification" of its headline-grabbing report earlier this week and we wanted to get it out as soon as we could.
AP concedes President Bush was not told before Hurricane Katrina hit land that the storm might cause a "breach" of New Orleans' levees. He was told the levees might be "overrun."
USA Today seems to deserve some credit for making the effort.
7 comments:
Roger:
It is a shame really, the AP has been around forever.
Notice that the "clarification" came out at &PM Eastern on Friday. Pretty much exaxctly when you release something you want to bury.
"They learn the rest on the job. But one thing about the AP that makes it particularly hard to manage that no one ever talks about: Most reporters can file their stories directly onto the wire. There is virtually no editing or fact-checking on breaking news."
fresh air -
we are the BLOGOSHPERE!!!
(puffs out chest)
let's get the word out!
(imo,the willingness to be somewhat circumspect about breaking news is what makes YARGB *better* than AP.)
Nah. we're better because we're smurter.
... and spel gud.
They don't even get their "clarification" correct. Bush was warned the levees might be "topped" or "overtopped", not overrun, whatever that means. As an economic compromise, the levees were designed to be overtopped by severe storm surges, with the resulting localized flooding handled by the NO storm pumping system.
i agree,jd.
"over-run" sounds like
another version of "collapse".
it's yet another version of
AP-all-disasters-all-the-time.
including their ability to write effectively.
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