​Molly Price

In a stylishly decorated hotel ballroom, journalists have come to listen to some of the best in the business. The nation’s ongoing tragedy in the Gulf resulted in countless losses for the southeastern states and their industries.

Media coverage of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that dumped approximately 200 million gallons of oil in the Gulf Coast was extensive. Writers, reporters and radio hosts from all over the country found themselves covering the spill. On Jan. 22 in Auburn, Ala. a panel of four journalists shared their experiences with the BP explosion and its resulting oil spill.

Debbie Elliott, a panelist who worked as an NPR National Correspondent, started a series, “The Disappearing Coast,” which focused on southern Louisiana and its struggle with the oil industry and the oil spill.

Elliott noted the magnitude of the crisis in the Gulf.

“I have never covered one story exclusively in my 15 years of working for NPR as we covered this,” Elliott said. “I did not do another story on another subject between April and August.”

Elliott admitted that it took a while to realize the impact of the BP spill.

 

“There was concern among some people that we weren’t getting the whole story.” Elliott said that she remembers watching the number of gallons and other facts of the spill change daily, as the government continued to release more information.

 

“The government and BP changed that number again,” Elliott said. “All of a sudden, reporters are starting to pick up on the disparities between what they’re telling you and what people who have been out and who are seeing it are discovering.”

The Gulf Coast community could do nothing but wait for the oil to make landfall. “It ended up being bad,” Elliott said. “It had an impact. People were not able to go out and fish; people weren’t going to the beach.”

Libby Amos, a recent Auburn University graduate, worked as a reporter for Fox news 10 in Mobile, Ala.  She is a native of Mobile, and for her, the oil spill was emotionally challenging and extremely personal. “I remember walking out to the beach and seeing it come in and just crying,” Amos said. “It was tough to cover that and see this happen.”

Amos also described the amount of physical energy required to cover the spill. “We clocked a lot of overtime hours,” Amos said.  “It was dreadfully hot every day, lugging equipment a mile down the beach.” Amos believes local coverage was important in this national story. “People really do watch local news,” Amos said. “People do want a local voice to answer for them, and so that was a powerful position to be in.”

As managing editor at the Mobile-Press Register, Dewey English also had a first-hand experience with the spill. English recounted some of the facts and figures of the spill. ‘The Deepwater Horizon rig was what’s known as a semi-submersible rig. It occurred on April 20, and it killed 11,” English stated. “To date, there have been 448,000 damage claims filed either with BP or with the Gulf Coast claim facility.”

English noted the dual perspective of the oil spill story. “The story is going down two rails of track,” English said. “One is the spill itself, and the other is covering the damage claims and people losing their jobs.” Although the spill was devastating for the Gulf Coast, English was optimistic about the state of the beaches. “You know, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores have never looked better,” English said. “The beaches are just beautiful right now, but there is still a lot of work to do.”

The final panelist, Frye Gaillard, taught at the University of South Alabama and has written 19 non-fiction books. Gaillard focused on the fishing village of Bayou La Batre in southern Alabama.

 

“I had become really captivated by the story of this town,” Gaillard said. He discussed the history of the small town, and the difficulty of life on the coast.  Gaillard worked with Alabama Public Television on a documentary on Bayou La Batre, and is excited about its release in the spring.

 

“It was a place where of the 2,300 residents, more than 2,000 were driven from their homes by the devastation of the storm.” Gaillard said he wanted to continue to write about the community.

 

“This will continue to be a story that has to be covered with great care by the media, not just in the coming months but I’m afraid in the coming years.”

Each panelist had a different experience, a different story and a different outlook, but they made one thing clear. There is a need for credible and consistent reporting on the local and the national level. Even in the dark times of our nation, reporters must shed light on the truth.