Post-Katrina, New Orleans still awash in violence

[snopes]

The city has long been plagued by guns and drugs, perhaps now more than ever.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,5346644.story

[JoeBentley]

Errr is this surprising? New Orleans had a notoriously high crime rate prior to Katrina. Does anyone really think its likely that the storm and its aftermath, not to mention the city becoming the target of so much political posturing from so many sides, would make it any better?

[Steve]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

Errr is this surprising? New Orleans had a notoriously high crime rate prior to Katrina. Does anyone really think its likely that the storm and its aftermath, not to mention the city becoming the target of so much political posturing from so many sides, would make it any better?

Did anyone call it surprising? Nothing in the article mentioned the liklihood of crime in New Orleans. It just mentioned the crime rate there now. Should news articles now take into account how predictable there stories are? I've never heard that theory before. And if I'm misunderstanding, could you clarify?

[JoeBentley]

Originally Posted by Steve

Should news articles now take into account how predictable there stories are?

No I just don't think a story that boils down to nothing more then "City with high violent crime rate continues to have high violent crime rate" qualifies as "news."

Something being reported on, by definition, means that something significant has happened, not that the status quo has been maintained.

If not the news everyday would be "Earth continues to revolve around the sun, the universe continues to expand, and the domestication of the dog continues as scheduled."