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Organizations as well as political leaders have a vested interest in shaping images for their own advantage. From this perspective, Katrina represents a classic case of reality construction. This article will describe efforts at reality construction that surrounded the response to Hurricane Katrina. Attempts to shape public perceptions by the media and key stakeholders such as the Mayor of New Orleans, Governor of Mississippi, Governor of Louisiana, President of the United States, and the Director of FEMA are described. The article concludes that all of the key actors had a vested interest in shaping perceptions. Clear winners and losers emerged from the battle to construct the reality of the disaster response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]