Analysis: Should We Abandon Louisiana

Should We Abandon Louisiana explains the disdain that the people of Louisiana feel towards media coverage, the rest of America, as well as for relief agencies and their lack of contribution towards the rebuilding of the state after natural disasters. The author states multiple times that due to media outlets not covering the flooding of his state, many Americans did not know about the natural disaster. The people of Louisiana feel that because of natural disasters occurring frequently, cable news and other media outlets, do not cover the events because it is seen as a normality to the rest of America. The author states that federal relief from FEMA and the Red Cross can only help to a lesser extent, and with discouragement from American’s who think that the government should stop helping to rebuild their state, it is harder for Louisiana to recreate itself after each natural disaster.
Media coverage extensively affects our perception and knowledge about events around the world as well as in America.
Due to a popular trend of media outlets covering stories for publicity and ratings, it is challenging for Americans to get news accounts for events that don’t necessarily sell. In addition, media outlets tend to be bias in one way or another about people, events, and other topics. This causes people to only have one-sided knowledge or a shallow understanding of events if they only use one source to locate their information. Media coverage, for a large number of Americans, dictates what common people know and how they perceive things, simply because most Americans won’t find out about an event if it isn’t covered, or only vaguely mentioned, in a media
outlet.