2008 Woodie Awards
Editor addresses ethics, city failures
Award bestowed for maintaining democracy during Katrina disaster
Daliah Singer
Issue date: 5/1/07 Section: News
Jim Amoss, editor of the Times- Picayune in New Orleans, received the Anvil of Freedom Award last Tuesday in recognition of his contribution to democracy through journalism during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
The Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media at DU presented Amoss with the award for his role in continuing to produce the newspaper throughout the storm and for helping to keep New Orleans on the national and international agenda by exposing the failures of FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Times-Picayune won two Pulitzer prizes for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina, one for public service, the other for breaking news.
About 50 students, faculty and editors from both the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post attended the event on a blustery and rainy night.
In accepting the award, Amoss spoke about his and his staff's experiences during the hurricane and how the advantages of being a local newspaper helped the Times-Picayune uncover man-made failures that led to the flooding and subsequent evacuation of New Orleans, the largest natural disaster in American history.
Amoss also was a guest in a journalism class and spoke at a workshop earlier that day where he discussed the ethical dilemmas faced by journalists during disasters.
"Democracy is never so endangered or the press so essential" than during a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina or 9/11, said Amoss. While many other newspapers and broadcast media were reporting that Louisiana had "dodged a bullet," the Times-Picayune was telling a vastly different story.
"Our paper told a different story, for we knew our backyard," said Amoss.
The morning after Katrina hit, Amoss was informed that everyone in the Times-Picayune building would have to evacuate or face being trapped by rising waters as the storm surge breached the levees. Staff members and their families climbed into newspaper delivery trucks that eventually ended up in Baton Rouge.
The Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media at DU presented Amoss with the award for his role in continuing to produce the newspaper throughout the storm and for helping to keep New Orleans on the national and international agenda by exposing the failures of FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Times-Picayune won two Pulitzer prizes for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina, one for public service, the other for breaking news.
About 50 students, faculty and editors from both the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post attended the event on a blustery and rainy night.
In accepting the award, Amoss spoke about his and his staff's experiences during the hurricane and how the advantages of being a local newspaper helped the Times-Picayune uncover man-made failures that led to the flooding and subsequent evacuation of New Orleans, the largest natural disaster in American history.
Amoss also was a guest in a journalism class and spoke at a workshop earlier that day where he discussed the ethical dilemmas faced by journalists during disasters.
"Democracy is never so endangered or the press so essential" than during a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina or 9/11, said Amoss. While many other newspapers and broadcast media were reporting that Louisiana had "dodged a bullet," the Times-Picayune was telling a vastly different story.
"Our paper told a different story, for we knew our backyard," said Amoss.
The morning after Katrina hit, Amoss was informed that everyone in the Times-Picayune building would have to evacuate or face being trapped by rising waters as the storm surge breached the levees. Staff members and their families climbed into newspaper delivery trucks that eventually ended up in Baton Rouge.
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