“It was left to reporters embedded in the mayhem to let Americans know that a third world country had suddenly appeared on the Gulf Coast,” David Carr writes today. “In particular, CNN, the much-maligned, overrun cable news operation, and National Public Radio, the prissy, embattled bastion of the quiet left, both found their voices amidst the chaos.”

In my opinion, this is the most important paragraph: “At 11:20 on Monday night, when Katrina was blowing inland and his competitors at Fox and MSNBC were tying up their coverage with a bow — the bullet was dodged, God’s hand nudged it aside, the close call was just that — [Aaron] Brown interviewed Jeanne Meserve, a veteran reporter for CNN, which is owned by Time Warner. After going out in a boat with rescuers, she said the water was deep and getting deeper, a prescient look into the week that was to come.”