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Six years ago I was asked to help choose the journalism awards that the American Planning Association would be giving for “outstanding coverage of city and regional planning issues.” One entry, from the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, stood above the others by so many heads and shoulders that there was actually a brief discussion of taking it out of the competition. The Times-Picayune had an unfair advantage of sorts: while the other papers dealt with run-of-the-mill local planning concerns, the Times-Picayune got to look into New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which in 2005 wiped out much of the city.
“What resulted was a series of articles about regrouping and rebuilding. In reporting on successes in other places, the newspaper also lit a fire under its own city. One headline read: ‘Grand plans can’t happen unless a fractured city rises to the challenge.’
