Brian in New Orleans--Mainly Pluses

Last night's NBC NIghtly News featured Brian Williams' return to New Orleans, to do followup on the stalled recovery. The main feature: Martin Savidge's roundup of the reasons the recovery is becalmed. He hit the main notes, in rough balance--crime, weak leadership, lack of belief in the repair of the levees--though I don't recall him touching on the slow-walking of the Road Home program to assist homeowners in returning and rebuilding. At the end, Ann Curry did a piece on a youngster traumatized by the disaster who's back in town, whose family is rebuilding on their own steam and initiative, without outside aid or money. Unspoken but clear message: America sees a black family embodying the values of self-reliance and initiative that some think are the sole property of white Americans.

A generally praiseworthy visit, with one gaping omission: Williams anchored from a neighborhood in Lakeview undergoing spotty reconstruction, but didn't give America a look at any of the residents in that neighborhood--which might have obviated another common media myth, that New Orleans disaster victims were overwhelmingly black. Lakewood, pre-K, was a predominantly white neighborhood.