Resiliency in Recovery

Abstract

Hurricane Katrina thoroughly restructured New Orleans as a news environment. In the recovery period, New Orleans also lost its daily, printed newspaper when the venerated, Pulitzer Prize-winning Times-Picayune transitioned to a reduced print delivery, digital-driven format. At the same time, the uptick in public interest surrounding institutional corruption post-Katrina left a heightened civic need for newswork that fulfills the social responsibility ethic of journalistic practice. This research—founded upon 92 days of on-the-ground fieldwork and 60 in-depth interviews with newsworkers—explores the nature of accountability reporting post-Katrina. More specifically, this work traces three phases of ecological restructuring that reordered practitioner routines, fostering the growth of slow journalism in the Crescent City.