It is tempting to inquire about the “reactions of the public” to the events of New Orleans—Hurricane Katrina and its immediate aftermath. One could, for example, analyze the content of the media or survey opinions. With just a few days of delay the pollsters have started to do just that.

There are, however, limits to this way of thinking about the matter: It suggests that the public is something that can be taken for granted and exists entirely independently of the events and then represents them or reacts to them. Yet the news media or the people watching do not in themselves make a public in the emphatic sense of the word.¹ The public as a sphere of shared discussion and experience may or may not emerge depending on social circumstances.

It is important to note the extent to which this disaster has produced its own public; that is, it fostered a shared experience that made social contexts visible, articulated interests and led to collective debates about social justice.

The news media has had an important role to play. Most living outside the areas affected by Katrina learned about the catastrophe and its aftermath through television and the internet. Some of the characteristics of the events made them particularly televisable: The crisis unfolded over several days, it was set in a specific locale, the details of which quickly became recognizable even to an observer without any previous knowledge of New Orleans.

But beyond the coverage of the major stations and papers, there is the experience of hundreds of thousands who have been affected. For millions more, following the story has been a very emotional experience. People sought conversations in their workplaces, often transcending the usual reserve between superiors and subordinates. They talked with friends and families, using the phone and the internet. The internet made accounts available by people who had escaped or been evacuated. These conversations have a material reality of their own.