Tell
the truth and nothing but the truth. It is a reporter’s duty to the public that
his work has credible sources. After all, “news is the material that people use
to learn and think about the world beyond themselves, the most important
quality it can possess is that it be useable and reliable” (50). Brian Thevenot of The Times-Picayune made a poor effort of finding the journalistic
truth. His “Katrina’s body count could reach 10,000”, has a lack of verifiable sources.
Thevenot’s first statement under
scrutiny is the claim that, “Brooks and several other Guardsmen said they had
seen between 30 and 40 more bodies in the Convention Center’s freezer.” There
is no direct evidence to back up his claim. There are no photographs to
document the bodies and Thevenot did not witness the bodies himself. Unfortunately,
Thevenot only had observer eyewitness account, which is the least on the
hierarchy of seeking journalistic truth.
Thevenot
reports that the “official death count from Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana was
71 as of Monday evening, but that included only those bodies that had been
brought to a make-shift morgue in St. Gabriel.” Once again, this is an example
of unverifiable reporting. Where did the official death count come from? Did he
get this information from the morgue? Did he receive the information from an
accredited government agency? He gives no information as to the source on these
numerical figures.
Not only is it imperative to
provide the public with accurate information, it is equally important for a
reporter to use trustworthy sources. It is up to a reporter to evaluate his
sources and to not be duped. Thevenot uses a myriad of sources that appear to
be credible. These sources include: Arkansas National Guardsman Mikel Brooks, Daniel
Martinez, a spokesman for FEMA, Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans, Captain Timothy
Bayard, Deputy Chiefs Warren Riley and Steve Nicholas, all of the New Orleans
Police Department, and Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu. A few of these sources gave
information without verifying their claims. The first instance of an
unverifiable claim is from Mayor Ray Nagin. He states, “the storm may have
claimed more than 10,000 lives,” yet, Thevenot does not verify Nagin’s
assertion. As a journalist, it is Thevenot’s job to support assertions with
evidence. He fails to do so with Nagin. Following in the footsteps of they
mayor, Capt. Timothy Bayard also makes an unverified claim. He says, “The
highest concentration of casualties from Hurricane Katrina likely will come in
the Lower 9th Ward, St. Bernard Parish.” Once again, Thevenot does not give any
evidence of this being true. He simply takes Bayard’s assertion as absolute
truth. He goes on to report “Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu said ‘more than a
thousand’ people had died in St. Bernard.” Both Bayard and Landrieu do not give
any evidence that these assertions are true. Thevenot makes another journalist
error when he reports that, “Officials surmised the drowning victims had tried
to stay together.” These “officials” remain anonymous and unverifiable. An
official can be any person with supposable authority. Not only are they
classified as officials, but they are not completely sure as to what happened
to the victims. To surmise is to assume something without any evidence. In other words, they are making a guess. Thevenot
continues to weaken his own reporting by including anonymous sources and the
usage of indirect evidence. Mikel Brooks, the National Guardsman from Arkansas,
and his unnamed “comrades” was told “a girl they estimated to be 5 years old.
Though they could not confirm it, they had heard she was gang-raped.” Not only
are Brooks’ comrades unnamed, but also they heard that the 5-year old girl was
assaulted from an elderly woman. The older woman is not named, is not
interviewed, and therefore, not a reliable source. This is information that
Thevenot should have never included in his article. This is considered to be
“hearsay testimony” even less than secondhand testimony. The older woman may
not be alive or even exist. Each
and every journalist knows that truth is of the utmost importance. According to
Kovach and Rosenstiel, “Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth” (49). Sadly,
Thevenot’s news article lacks truth. His sources are not all reliable. There
was a great deal of hearsay from sources that held titles of prestige. The
article did not include “a practical or functional form of truth (56). Next
time, Thevenot will look into the freezer himself in order to avoid
inaccuracies in his reporting.
Works Cited:
Kovach,
Bill, and Tom Rosenstiel. "Journalism of Verification." The
Elements of
Journalism.
London: Atlantic, 2003. Pp. 47-68 Print.
Thevenot,
Brian. "Katrina's body count could reach 10,000." The
Times-Picayune
[New Orleans ] 06 Sept. 2005: 8. The Times-Picayune.
Print.
