NBC’s Brian Williams and a Nightly News crew has landed in Mississippi to cover the lingering aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. “As I plan to explain in the first moments of the broadcast tonight, we are here because we were asked to come. We have looked up some of the people who wrote us emotional e-mails, asking to be put back (or in some cases, placed for the first time) on the national radar of sympathy, concern and aid,” he blogs.

“It is our sincere goal on this trip, as journalists with access to a national audience, to focus the attention of the millions who watch Nightly News each night on the plight of those in Mississippi who have nothing, still.”

“The worry here is: when the cameras pan off this region, the attention goes away. For the next couple of evenings we intend to swing the focus back here, even if the picture shows only barren land…”