I THINK -- best guess here -- by the mere fact that the FOX crew (Shepard Smith and camera crew) (who I think were the only ground broadcast crew near/at the Superdome just before and then just after the storm) (I note they moved into the French Quarter during the storm and were there early soon afterward then back to the freeway location near the Superdome with a water moat in between their position and the Superdome), anyway, I noticed that that crew was taking a great deal of personal safety risks by positioning where they were.
The FOX Crews was AT the Superdome the afternoon before the storm struck but didn't return that closein after the storm and probably because of security concerns. As it is, I have wondered how it was that Smith and crew remained as they did on that freeway adjacent to the Superdome (with water, food, security, an energy source).
It could not have been easy, is my point. They MUST have had helicopter transport in and out again daily inorder to remain there as they did, but if they DID, I also wonder how they maintained security for that transport, given their location. Otherwise, Shepard Smith looked bathed and freshly dressed every day amidst the mess he was covering.
I thought it was remarkable coverage, myself.
But, about the Astrodome in Houston, there was already a story there that was being persued and that was/is the conditions of the shelter, the security and wellbeing of the people being housed there. Given that that was the very, very big issue from New Orleans, I mean, it was already a story when the Houston facilities opened up, such that there was forewarning and incentive to film the place, before, during and now ongoing.
Few of us perceived the Superdome situation becoming as awful as it did, while with the N.O. Convention Center, people were trying to flee and those it was not at all a secure site for any news crew. So, no filming from there until after the swat teams and other military arrived. Then, usher in Heraldo.
If that is your idea of hygiene, then pray we never have to be foreced into close quarters. Shep looked pretty ratty to me by the end of the week.
The same thing happened last year with Ivan.