Katrina a bust on poverty awareness.

• Position: Hurricane Katrina

Contrary to a popular theme reported in news coverage of Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 Gulf Coast disaster did not reveal to most Americans that widespread poverty and inequality are the nation's "dirty little secret." Rather, citizens were aware of these problems before they were highlighted by the devastation of Katrina, suggests a study by sociologists David Grusky and Emily Ryo from Stanford (Calif.) University.

As a result, the event did not become a watershed in the debate over poverty, as some pundits have claimed. In fact, awareness of poverty and inequality actually decreased among various groups of Americans after Katrina, suggesting that some people may have reacted negatively to news coverage by what they claim to be a "liberally biased media."

A Pew Research center poll points out that 70% of the U.S. adult population claims to have paid "very close attention" to news about Katrina, making it the fifth most-closely-watched story of the last 20 years. "It follows that Katrina had the potential to recalibrate public ideologies in ways far more profound than, say, the release of yet another government report on inequality and poverty," write...