Matt Towery thinks that the major media outlets ignorance about the south caused them to drop the ball.

So why on Tuesday night was network television airing shows like "Tommy Lee Goes to College," instead of providing wall-to-wall live coverage of this historic, catastrophic event?

[...]

I'll tell you why. It's because the know-it-alls in New York and Washington don't have a clue about the American South. They don't comprehend its political might and economic muscle, and thus the ultimately crippling impact Katrina is going to have on them, too. It's that simple.

[...]

The South has been hit with the equivalent of a nuclear bomb. And too much of America didn't want to notice until it had to.

That should be enough of an excerpt to pique your interest.