A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Which is why I will be quite outraged if this is true. I certainly expect that there will be urban legends and exaggerated stories in a time like this. But when those urban legends promote a sense of nationwide outrage that affects the fixation of political blame and when they affect the nation's perception of just how quickly we are responding to the calamity in New Orleans, then we have a serious information problem on our hands.

For the record, I hope the stories are indeed myths. I would hate to think that stories of rape and/or people having their throats slit are true. And once we resolve whether or not they are myths, perhaps we can then find out who--if anyone--has been responsible for the misinformation.

UPDATE: More on this issue from Matt Welch. An information scandal appears to be afoot. Again, thank God if the earlier horrible reports were untrue, but what happened to the fact-checking? Did it collapse as dramatically as New Orleans itself appears to have done?

ANOTHER UPDATE: It should be noted that Welch partly checks himself here. The truth may lie somewhere in the middle between his article/the Guardian article and his post.