Katrina and the Gulf Coast: Now and Then
When the national press returned on the first anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina forever changed life from Mobile to New Orleans, they found a much different Mississippi than the one they left.
“We got handed a big lemon during Katrina, and I think the Coast is making really good lemonade out of it,” said Steve Richer of Mississippi Beyond Katrina.
Richer gave thumbs up to the Philadelphia Inquirer, among others.
Amy Worden, staff writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and staff photographer Larry Kesterson acquired much perspective from seeing the destruction firsthand when they volunteered to help at the Sun Herald the week Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
After all they had seen here, the two lobbied their editors to include Mississippi stories in the Inquirer’s anniversary package.
“We felt it was important to cover Mississippi fairly on the anniversary,” Worden said. “It was a struggle. Even in our own newspaper there were editors who said nobody cares about Mississippi. It was our job to make them care.”