NOLA Survivors’ Survey Shows Impressive Resilience; WaPo Breezes Past It
To me, the key survey question/request (from actual survey [PDF format] of 680 adult Katrina evacuees in Houston shelters Sept. 10-12) was this:
Please tell me if any of the following words describe your feelings about your future.
Continue on for the responses (percentages):
Note: This Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health survey was taken before the president’s speech on Thursday (HT Betsy’s Page).
It pays to get to the original survey. The Washington Post (link requires registration) used the following completely inadequate language to describe these good-news results:
Still, nearly nine in 10 said they were “hopeful” about the future. And while half said they felt depressed about what lies ahead, just a third said they were afraid.
Why didn’t we get to hear about “grateful” or “relieved” from the WaPo? The paper missed a chance to communicate to the nation something every donor needs to hear and to reverse some lingering resentment of the negative attitudes of some victims.
And where was “angry”? It makes you wonder if the WaPo didn’t see as much anger as expected (or hoped for?).
