Katrina spawned plague of misinformation (USA Today)

By Mark Memmott, USA TODAY

One thing can be said for certain about what it was like in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina roared through:

Much of what was reported as fact by government officials and the media during the chaotic first week afterward turned out to be fiction.

Myths and misinformation multiplied, from how many people died to what conditions were really like inside the Louisiana Superdome.

"If you don't have accurate information ... you could be making bad decisions and just creating the next disaster," says Ken Murphy, director of Oregon's Office of Emergency Management and a director at the National Emergency Management Association. ( more...)