from sundancechannel.com
As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina looms, so too do the one-year anniversary specials. The first two acts of Spike Lee's Katrina documentary, "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" aired last night on HBO and the remainder will air tonight. Next Monday, Brian Williams will anchor a primetime special on NBC, "Katrina: The Long Road Back," making NBC the only network to produce a primetime special in honor of the anniversary. Cable networks will be marking it more actively, with every major network planning to cover the anniversary with anchors in the affected regions.
Meanwhile, on the more localized newspaper front, Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp reports that newspapers in the Gulf Coast region are "walking a careful tightrope between not hitting readers too hard with stark reminders of the most devastating natural disaster in U.S. history, and giving it deserved recognition." Some editors, like the Biloxi Sun Herald's Stan Tiner, feel that, "Every day is Katrina day." Still, that paper will run a five-day series of special sections, including a three-day interview with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour in addition to a more investigative piece on the hurricane. The Times-Picayune plans to publish readers' personal narratives (as does The Advocate of Baton Rouge) as well as news items on the rebuilding efforts.
— Danny Shea
