A year later, how the media handled the oil spill anniversary

As the first anniversary of the BP oil spill neared, the ongoing plight of the Japanese was still snagging the headlines. So for anyone here in the US still concerned about the effects of the spill, parsing out the news was a challenge.

One of the biggest stories, though, was universal: the plight of the oyster fishermen in the Gulf. One Washington, DC-based syndicated TV show, EnergyNOW!, captured that plight beautifully in a compelling story of loss. One 30-year-old fisherman on camera cries; after all, he's lost his entire livelihood and is living on the streets. He has to be coaxed into calling Catholic Charities for help.

Other news outlets covered the story by showing how much cleaner the Gulf is (or isn't); how much subsea oil still remains; how the residents of the region are battling health effects; and the blow to the economy in the Gulf states. One of NPR's headlines on the anniversary was "BP: a Textbook Example Of How Not To Handle PR."

At an oil spill symposium a few months earlier, at the University of Georgia, an audience member from England asked a panel of journalists -- of which this Examiner was a member -- what we thought the public's "appetite" would be regarding the spill, whether here or abroad. I said that I felt it would depend on which side of the Pond one was on, while Justin Gillis of the New York Times said her question had more of a domestic focus and that he hoped the story didn't "fall off the map" although he worries it already has.

As we move forward to other news, and dare I fear greater catastrophes, let's stay abreast of the BP oil spill --- not only the greatest environmental disaster this country has ever seen, but a gauge to how much damage an ecosystem and region can withstand after such a blowout. Now, with drilling reaching greater depths and more licenses being greenlit, keeping a watchful eye is not only a civic duty but a moral imperative.

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To watch the video from EnergyNOW! please click here.

To see the video from the UGA conference, "Building Bridges in Crisis," please click here. Note, the question mentioned above comes at the very end of the tape.