Capturing A Natural Disaster in Two Regions: Hurricane Ida in Four Black Newspapers

Abstract

This research focused on how the Black Press covered Hurricane Ida in two
cities – New Orleans and Philadelphia – with majority Black populations
while they were covering the COVID-19 pandemic. In Louisiana, the Black
Press focused on how Hurricane Ida may have compounded existing challenges
among African American residents that were already lingering from
the COVID-19 pandemic. In Philadelphia, in the wake of Hurricane Ida,
readers of the oldest continuously published Black-owned newspaper learned
of the disproportionate impact of climate change on racial minority
communities. What this study reaffirms is that even in natural disaster crises,
the Black Press, as an ethnic, advocacy press, fills gaps in coverage that aims
to distinguish how low income, communities of color suffer more, what
those disparities look like and what resources are needed to help those most
in need.