1:36 PM Wed, Sep 07, 2005 | Permalink |
(Editor's note: KING-TV news director Pat Costello has traveled to Louisiana to help sister station WWL-TV cover the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This is his first dispatch.)
Here’s what it’s like to be working at WWL-TV. First, the station is in New Orleans. But, for the time being we are working out of the Louisiana Public Television building in Baton Rouge, which is like operating KING-TV out of Anacortes. We work in complete chaos...
The most effective communications is yelling down the hallway. Phones are spotty. Gasoline is limited. Traditional roadways are underwater or under siege. Logistics consume you. We sleep on cots, on floors and in cars. Eighty percent of the people you are working alongside have lost everything to Katrina. I have yet to hear a single complaint. There are tears and then there are hugs, but the WWL-TV staff has an unnatural work ethic. They are working non-stop to bring the story to the viewers in New Orleans -- wherever they are now. They’ve been doing it non-stop for 9 days now. Under primitive conditions they are producing incredible journalism. Their commitment to the public trust is amazing and inspiring. What’s it like to be at WWL-TV in New Orleans? Awful. But I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
Pat,
I grew up watching KING 5 and was fortunate enough to intern at the station while I was in college. I'm now reporting in the mid-west and, like the rest of the country have watched the coverage of Katrina and what's followed with a heavy heart. The service that WWL and the entire BELO team has provided to local viewers...and a horrified nation has been supurb. I think the product all of you have put on the air is some of the finest ever in electronic journalism. Keep up the good work and please understand people all over the country are watching and appreciate the outstanding work of WWL and BELO during this difficult time.