Newspaper Finds New Attitude After Katrina

One of the paper's most persistent efforts since the storm has been to combat the image -- put forward by some politicians and pundits -- of New Orleanians as a gang of shiftless wastrels waiting for a handout. The Times-Picayune has hammered at the region's economic significance ("the fulcrum of one-third of the nation's oil and gas and 40% of its seafood," Amoss' Thanksgiving-weekend op-ed piece said) and its eminence as a hothouse of American culture.

Several of the Times-Picayune's reporters and editors said they knew they had to be cautious that the passion that fired their work not threaten their objectivity.

Mark Schleifstein, a respected investigative reporter, said he faced that challenge in late November, when he learned about the report CBS planned to air on the highly rated "60 Minutes."

The piece was to feature a theory by St. Louis University geologist Tim Kusky, who concluded that New Orleans within 90 years would become an island, armored against the surrounding sea. "We should be thinking of a gradual pullout of New Orleans and starting to rebuild people's homes, businesses and industry in places that can last more than 80 years," Kusky told "60 Minutes."

Tipped off about the program a day before the Nov. 20 broadcast, Schleifstein made an unusual attempt at a preemptive strike. He e-mailed and phoned the network with his objections. "I said, 'You've got to be kidding,' " the reporter recalled. " 'This just isn't right.' "

Schleifstein, a Pulitzer Prize winner for a series on threatened world fisheries, said he had never done such a thing before. The next day, he felt uncomfortable when the paper's city editor assigned him to write about the TV segment that he had already attacked.

In the resulting story, Schleifstein quoted five experts who said it was far from certain the city was doomed to a watery grave. (Headline: "Not So Fast, '60 Minutes' ")

CBS correspondent Scott Pelley stood by the story, saying three other experts backed Kusky.

A spokesman for the program declined, however, to criticize the Times-Picayune's rebuttal.

Still, the typically understated Schleifstein sounded sheepish about his pre-broadcast salvo. "That was over the top for me. I shouldn't have done it," he said later. "But these are unusual times."

Going forward, journalism expert Perkins said the paper's greatest challenge would be "sustaining the momentum in the face of overwhelming despair."