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Seen & Heard: How would you assess media coverage of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?

By Billy O'Keefe

By Carolina Hidalgo

“The master narrative was dominated by official releases, and there wasn’t nearly enough on-the-ground reporting.” — Spencer Morris, a recent graduate of San Francisco State University



“It was very thorough for a two-month period, but now is the time when we really need to think about and cover the issues.” — Kenneth Irby, visual journalism group leader and diversity director, Poynter Institute



“There was a lot of spin, which is unfortunate when we’re reporting on a story of that magnitude.” — Tom Haraldsen, The Valley Journals and president of SPJ’s Utah Headliners Chapter



“In the beginning, the press was giving BP a little bit of a break. We should have jumped on the deeper issues sooner. But I think the day-to-day coverage was good.” — Nancy Cook Lauer, Hilo bureau chief, West Hawaii Today



“The press helped people realize the effects … what is going to happen after everything is cleaned up. There was a lot of multimedia and info-graphs, a lot of information that people wouldn’t get normally.” — Chrissy Ashack, a junior and yearbook editor at Indiana University