A Major Storm Hits a Forgotten Region and a Feeding Frenzy Fails to Materialize: Hurricane Rita, News Coverage, and Southeast Texas.

This paper considers the question of why the pattern of national media coverage surrounding Hurricane Rita in Southeast Texas emerged as it did. This coverage is noteworthy because, unlike other hurricanes, a media feeding frenzy did not occur. One possible explanation is that local political culture influenced national media coverage of Hurricane Rita, and we address this using original survey data collected from residents of Southeast Texas in the aftermath of the storm. The responses provided by residents indicate their actions created an environment in which a feeding frenzy was unlikely to transpire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]