Television, in particular news television, has become increasingly problematic the past several years. While some would argue the popularity of 24-hour news channels like CNN and Fox News means a higher percentage of Americans are tuned in to current events, others have countered (like the directors of "War Made Easy") that the coverage offered on these networks is cursory, shallow and focused on sensationalism rather than hard-hitting news. After awhile, consuming a steady diet of network journalism becomes a little like having ice cream for every meal; you're eating, but you're sure as hell not getting nourished.

I first noticed this proclivity to ingest serious news stories with the same "entertain me now!" demands normally reserved for VH1 during, of all shameful occasions, Hurricane Katrina. The networks did their best to present the horrifying footage coming out of New Orleans in as sober a manner as the events deserved, but the same flashing graphics, orchestrated intro music and breathless headlines that dominate a story on say, Brangelina adopting another kid, also ushered in clips of levees breaking and a major U.S. city drowning before the nation's eyes. Like so many others, I felt heartsick and hopeless by what I saw, but I also felt angry with myself for feeling - with no other word to describe it, in the most crass meaning of the term - entertained by the coverage.

Flooded New Orleans

As I sat glued to my television, riveted by the images that were streaming in, I realized my strong feelings of compassion and grief seemed driven less by an authentic connection to what was happening than the kind of faux sadness that occurs when you're watching some tragic post-apocalyptic movie. I couldn't break through the cable media package to get to the heart of the hurricane; years of watching every news topic (regardless of how irrelevant) treated with equal frenzied importance had desensitized me to the point that I had become a greedy consumer, on the prowl for the next juicy sound bite. The disgust I felt with myself inspired me to begin seeking out independent news outlets for more substantial coverage of Katrina; from that day since, I have maintained a regular diet of indie news meals, with an occasional stop at the CNN ice cream store for dessert.

Filmmakers Carl Deal & Tia Lessin

I also discovered documentary films along the way, a great source of protein-filled sustenance in otherwise lean times. In "Trouble the Water," a new doc by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal that played at this year's film festival, the directors accomplish what few in the media ever managed to do during Katrina - they put their viewers not only physically but emotionally into the eye of the hurricane. Using found footage from a charismatic, poverty-stricken female rapper in New Orleans' Ninth Ward, Lessin and Deal throw us smack dab into the nervous pre-storm banter of neighbors who couldn't get out of the city, the slow dawning of horror in the ward's residents as the wind begins to howl and the waters start to rise, and the desperate life-or-death struggle for survival when the levees finally break and a few loose shingles on the roof are all most people have to hold onto. Recordings of 911 calls highlight bone-chilling conversations between frantic residents trapped in their homes and dispassionate responders intoning, "I'm sorry, no one is coming out to rescue at this time." Helpless, one elderly woman finally whispers, "I'm going to die, then," and the silence on the other end of the line seems to confirm that yes, she probably will.

Rapper Kimberly Rivers Robert & husband Scott ride out the storm in "Trouble the Water"

This is the Katrina I could never get my arms around back on those hot August afternoons in front of my television. These are the details, so small in the scope of the disaster and yet so meaningful to understanding its impact, that seemingly got swept away in the storm. Blocks from the city's worst-hit neighborhood, in the brutal aftermath of Katrina, a previously evacuated Naval base with hundreds of empty rooms is zealously protected by guards - not from looters, but from the displaced and starving citizens of New Orleans. Turning their automatic weapons on the pleading crowd, including women and children, the guards explain their duty is to secure the empty barracks - one of the only safe, dry refuges left standing in the city - for the protection of the government. It's a poignant line that somehow got drowned out by the battle drums of Fox News' outro music during its round-the-clock 2005 Katrina coverage.

"Trouble the Water" theatrical poster

"Trouble the Water" is currently playing in limited release around the country (it wrapped up its run at the State last week); stay tuned here for more details coming soon on its DVD release. In the meantime, be sure to check out this interview between co-director Tia Lessin and Interlochen Public Radio's Brad Aspey, recorded during this year's film festival. With last week's Hurricane Gustav offering a dangerous peek at just how unsafe New Orleans' levees remain three years later, "Trouble the Water" provides a much-needed reality check and pivotal election discussion point on how we would handle such a disaster if (and when) it should ever strike again.