The Bush administration's media honeymoon is over.
Watching the heartbreaking coverage from the Gulf Coast, it's clear that those reporting aren't happy. No Bush administration spin can hide the fact that little to no help has arrived. No carefully crafted press conferences can hide the fact that thousands are dying needlessly. No Air Force One flyover can hide the fact that far too many Americans - citizens who couldn't afford to leave, who were doing the right thing by going where they were told - have been abandoned by their government.
Correspondents on the ground in the Gulf Coast - such as CNN's Anderson Cooper - are livid. Cooper dressed down Sen. Mary Landrieu and her colleagues for congratulating each other as federal delays mount. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann interviewed a correspondent who captured images of corpses and hungry, thirsty, suffering victims at the New Orleans convention center. Studio anchors like Aaron Brown and Paula Zahn spoke out, questioning the Pentagon's motives and challenging the FEMA director, respectively.
While they are being told that help is on the way, they can see with their own eyes - as can millions of Americans - that "on the way" isn't good enough. Thousands are living in squalor, dying as the government
drags its feet. And our eyes on the ground see that - and they're not accepting the administration's excuses.
If you've noticed, the human-interest stories have ended. Puff pieces about stranded dolphins have been replaced by gripping images of dead bodies, of sub-human living conditions, of unspeakable disaster. The glossy coverage that has been the hallmark of the Bush administration has given way to hard news, hard images and hard criticisms.
Prior to the disaster that followed Katrina, the bloom was already starting to fall off the rose. Many in the media, their consternation at the White House showed, were not happy that several in the Bush administration had sold one of their own down the river. The New York Times' Judith Miller languishes in prison for not divulging her source in the CIA leak case. She didn't get the same waiver that Time's Matthew Cooper received. One of their own was suffering - and they weren't happy about it. We're now seeing the manifestation of that anger.
And one fact not lost on anyone there is this: If they, the reporters, can get to the area and do their job, why can't our government?