Exercise in Frustration

I spent much of the day yesterday glued to cable news shows, trying to keep up on what was happening with Hurricane Gustav. I learned one thing: You won't find out much about what's going on that way.

In the hours and hours of coverage, precious little information was provided about how the response effort was being coordinated. Instead, the outlets focused on the derring-do of their own reporters, standing in the streets, endlessly reporting the two truisms of hurricanes:

• It's really windy.
• It rains a lot.

My favorite part was when CNN's Anderson Cooper solemnly intoned that it was impossible to find anyone on the streets of New Orleans outside of emergency personnel, just as four people who obviously were not first responders happened to stroll along in the background.