[Gone GF]

"Or is that accent a cliche with little basis in reality?"

Which accent? If you listen real closely, the mayor has a tinge of the N.O. accent. The cajun accent, however, is different and is not heard often in N.O. It's certainly out there in the bayous.

"Are those people filtered out by the media?"

I think the last thing the media has time to do right now is filter out people with "unacceptable" accents.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I think the last thing the media has time to do right now is filter out people with "unacceptable" accents."

That comment was more about the news media themselves than the people they interview. All the media people seem to have the same neutral voice that media people seem to have everywhere. I know the media aren't hand-picking storm victims to find ones with no accents.