Americans are divided on whether the Louisiana flooding is receiving appropriate attention, and are also unsure whether the media unfairly concentrates on the Northeast
Louisiana is just emerging from its worst natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina, after floodwaters damaged over 60,000 homes in the state and killed 13 people. The media has been faulted for its response to the flooding, with critics charging that most national news outlets have not covered the deadly disaster as extensively as other natural calamities.
YouGov's research shows that Americans are divided equally on whether or not the Louisiana flooding has been receiving less attention than other natural disasters (41%) or about the same amount of attention (41%). People in the Northeast (49%) are actually the most likely to say that the flooding has received less coverage, compared to 39% of people in the South.
Asked more broadly whether the national news media has a regional bias, just over two-fifths of the country (43%) think that the media cares about each region equally. Among people who do think that there is a regional bias, one region is widely viewed as benefiting from it. 39% of Americans think that the news media cares most about the Northeast, with only 9% saying the same about the West and 5% and 4%, respectively, for the Midwest and South.
Asked which region the media cares about the least, the South is the top answer at 26%, followed by the Midwest at 19%.
