The InFocus Interview With Edward Blakely

 Nearly a month ago, CalTV aired a two-part InFocus with Edward Blakely, the former Recovery Czar in charge of rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Yaou Dou, our Co-Executive Director, and a former intern at the New Orleans Recovery Office during the summer of 2008 had the chance to interview Blakely a while ago. You may view part 1 here and part 2 here. 

  Blakely was already a controversial figure long before the interview with CalTV, but at the beginning of this month on November 2nd, about two weeks after the CalTV videos aired, the WWLTV, the primary CBS affiliate TV Station for the Louisiana and Mississippi areas picked up our story and incorporated it into their news segment as well as posting our original interview on their website. The story was also picked up by The Times Picayune, which also editorialized heavily on the event. 

  Judging from the many emotional comments that we have received on YouTube and the WWLTV and Times Picayune web pages about this video, there is no doubt that what Blakely stated in his interview with Yaou Dou stirred up many heated debates about his performance on the job and his attitude towards the city.

  From CalTV's point of view, we are proud and humbled that our journalism work has become a trustworthy resource for a traditional TV news station, and we are glad that our videos could reach a wider audience.