White noise

After hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, we were subjected to countless pictures and reports of death and mayhem in the city, looting, people starving, tax payers demanding assistance, and claims that the rescue efforts would have been quicker had the the refugees been white, quickly gathered wind (no pun intended).

Meanwhile George Bush was holidaying at his ranch, indifferent to the cries of the refugees. Perhaps he couldn't hear anything over the braying of the anti war movement camped outside, but lets not hold back here, not only did the president not stop the hurricane, but he also was not on the streets of New Orleans reassuring the citizens, never mind no one else could get in there, its totally unacceptable. He was criticised for not appearing, then criticised for appearing, damned if you do damned if you don't.

The way things were being reported, tens of thousands were dead or dying, the entire US Army was stuck in the middle east ensuring oil profits for the war mongering president, immediate withdrawal was needed, the United States was a sitting duck, and it seemed only the anti Bush authorities, commie/leftist Hugo Chavez and hollywood celebrities (camera entourage in tow) knew how to and were willing to help.

Now in the aftermath, that the world media has moved back to the apocalypse and daily butchering going on in the new 'Vietnam', will we see any of this on the evening news headlines.

Reports of murder, rape and violence among the thousands trapped in New Orleans' shelters in the wake of Hurricane Katrina shocked the world. The city's police chief spoke of babies being raped. Mayor Ray Nagin told of Superdome evacuees "watching hooligans killing people, raping people".

Now, a month later, officials say many of the accounts were probably false or greatly exaggerated in a time of chaos. New Orleans police confirm they have had no official reports of rapes or murders in the days after the city was catastrophically flooded. And the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals says only two of the 14 bodies found at the Convention Center and Superdome had gunshot wounds. One of those is believed to have been shot elsewhere and brought to the Superdome.

Capt Marlon Defillo, of the New Orleans Police Department, points the finger squarely at the media for any exaggerated accounts. "The news media wrote those reports and I cannot tell you where those stories came from, we've not received an official report from anyone regarding any sexual assault that may have occurred... we haven't received any official coroners' reports regarding any homicides."

Police chief Eddie Compass, who spoke on the Oprah Winfrey show of babies being raped, stood down on Tuesday. He admitted in a New York Times interview last week that some of his claims of tourists being raped and beaten in the street were based on second-hand reports - and had turned out to be untrue.

And the head of security at the Superdome has also stepped forward in recent days to say reports of violence were overblown. "The incidents were highly exaggerated," Lt Col Jacques Thibodeaux of the Louisiana National Guard told the AP news agency. "For the amount of people in the situation, it was a very stable environment."

Officials say there are several reasons why rumours or inaccuracies ended up being declared as fact by senior figures - not least because some of those in charge knew no more than the stories everyone else was hearing. "[Mayor Nagin] was listening to officials, trusting that information they were providing was accurate," his spokeswoman, Sally Forman, told reporters.

Prof Enrico Quarantelli, who heads the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware, agrees the level of violence "clearly was exaggerated" - and says the broadcast media should have done more to scrutinise the accounts.

"Instead of... trying to verify them, they were putting people directly on [air]," he told the BBC News website.

I'm waiting to see the outcomes of the Inquiry that is currently being conducted.