Most of the tales of murder and rape that came out of the Katrina catastrophe in New Orleans never happened. But that didn’t keep news media from conveying endless accounts of mayhem supposedly perpetrated by black thugs and gangs. Our guest says portrayals equating crime with African-Americans reflect a timeworn pattern, even when the stories are false. We’ll talk to author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson about Race, Lies and New Orleans.

Also on the show: The Judith Miller saga is just one of the stories that raises questions about the relationship between the press corps and the Bush White House. Ward Harkavy tracks such stories for his online column for the Village Voice, called The Bush Beat. We’ll hear his thoughts on the Miller case and on at least one other story, involving Dick Cheney, that seems to be flying under major media radar.

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