Those of us who lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina are all too familiar with reading stories in the press, written by people unfamiliar with this town, its politics, geographies and citizens who descended just for the big story, that misunderstood either the details of our complicated city or what it and our neighbors endured here.

As we saw in New Orleans, much of what people got wrong was driven by their preconceptions about the city, with some quickly accepting as truth false rumors of unthinkable violence by the poor people abandoned in the city and others failing to realize that the flood destroyed upper-middle-class white and black neighborhoods, along with middle-class white and black neighborhoods, before stranding the city’s poorest (flooded and unflooded) residents, who became the most visible face of a much more complicated disaster. (People from other places still sometimes express surprise about this when I explain that a rich, white neighborhood was one of the first to flood.)

So it is unsurprising to see the American media struggle to get the story straight in Haiti, a country that many of the journalists now there were likely completely unfamiliar with a week ago.

I hadn’t quite grasped this reality until I saw competing headlines, one in the New York Times on Sunday and another in the Washington Post on Monday, telling stories about the impact of the storm on the rich in Port-au-Prince that seem completely at odds with one another.

The New York Times, on the cover of Sunday’s paper, carried the headline, “Earthquake Ignores Class Divisions of a Poor Land.” The story is summed up in the following paragraphs:

Earthquakes do not respect social customs. They do not coddle the rich. They know nothing about the invisible lines that in Haiti keep the poor masses packed together in crowded slums and the well-to-do high up in the breezy hills of places like Pétionville.

And so it was with the devastating temblor that tore through Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, last week, toppling houses large and small, and trapping and traumatizing residents no matter where they stood on Haiti’s complicated social scale.

The story in yesterday’s Washington Post carried the headline “Haiti’s Elite Spared Much of the Devastation” and tells a far different story:

Although Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake destroyed many buildings in Port-au-Prince, it mostly spared homes and businesses up the mountain in the cool, green suburb of Petionville, home to former presidents and senators.

A palace built atop a mountain by the man who runs one of Haiti’s biggest lottery games is still standing. New-car dealers, the big importers, the families that control the port — they all drove through town with their drivers and security men this past weekend. Only a few homes here were destroyed.

I have never been to Haiti, no less Port-au-Prince or Petionville, but I don’t see how both stories can be accurate. But, especially for those of us who have seen a complicated and nuanced place reduced to generalities by someone without sufficient grasp of the place to begin with, it should be a reminder that, from this distance and in the midst of a crisis, it is hard to get any real read of the texture of a place as complex as Haiti.

I suppose it should also come as no surprise that both these stories about Petionville, and so much of the press about New Orleans, seem especially off-base about issues of class and, in New Orleans, the intersection of class and race. While such divisions are, of course, very often visible on the surface of a city, the dynamics are always much more complicated. Take New Orleans, which commentators suggested was segregated between black areas and white areas when in fact the historic city was integrated by design and remains much more racially diverse in its neighborhoods than most American cities, a fact that does little to change that it is also stunningly racially polarized.

While I admire some of the reporting I have seen from Haiti and feel like I am getting a picture of what is happening there (while having to hold back tears at the horror of some of the things that I am seeing), it is worth remembering that there will be things, like the “Babies Getting Raped in the Superdome” story after Hurricane Katrina, that may not hold up under the clear light of day, which will hopefully come soon for Port-au-Prince and Haiti.

Billy Sothern a criminal defense attorney and writer in New Orleans. He is the author of “Down in New Orleans: Reflections from a Drowned City.”

Criticism has been growing over the last few days over the Dread Mainstream Media’s coverage of sporadic violence and looting in Port-au-Prince.

While most print and broadcast media have been careful to emphasize the word “sporadic,” there have been reports of looting of stores and homes, tussles over food at distribution spots, gangs of young men wielding machetes walking down city streets and a few cases of vigilante justice where citizens have turned on looters and lynched them on the spot.

For the third time in as many days, on Friday President Obama spoke about Haiti, the situation there since the earthquake that devastated the country, and what the U.S. is doing to help. Among other things, he announced that he’ll be meeting at the White House with former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush on Saturday to discuss relief efforts.

Obama’s full remarks:

I wanted to just make a brief statement on the latest situation in Haiti, so that the American people are fully up to date on our efforts there. This morning I spoke with President Preval of Haiti, who has been in regular contact with our ambassador on the ground. I expressed to President Preval my deepest condolences for the people of Haiti and our strong support for the relief efforts that are under way.

Like so many Haitians, President Preval himself has lost his home, and his government is working under extraordinarily difficult conditions. Many communications are down and remain — and many people remain unaccounted for. The scale of the devastation is extraordinary, as I think all of us are seeing on television, and the losses are heartbreaking.

I pledged America’s continued commitment to the government and the people of Haiti in the immediate effort to save lives and deliver relief and in the long-term effort to rebuild.

President Preval and I agreed that it is absolutely essential that these efforts are well coordinated — among the United States and the government of Haiti, with the United Nations, which continues to play an essential role, and with the many international partners and aid organizations that are now on the ground.

Meanwhile, American resources continue to arrive in Haiti. Search-and-rescue efforts continue to work, pulling people out of the rubble. Our team has saved both the lives of American citizens and Haitian citizens, often under extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

This morning the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson arrived, along with helicopters that will be critical in delivering assistance in the days to come. They are preparing to move badly needed water, food and other lifesaving supplies to priority areas in Port-au-Prince.

Food, water and medicine continues to arrive, along with doctors and aid workers. At the airport, help continues to flow in, not just from the United States, but from Brazil, Mexico, Canada, France, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, among others.

OBAMA: This underscores the point that I made to the president this morning: The entire world stands with the government and the people of Haiti, for in Haiti’s devastation, we all see the common humanity that we share.

And, as the international community continues to respond, I do believe that America has a continued responsibility to act. Our nation has a unique capacity to reach out quickly and broadly and to deliver assistance that can save lives. That responsibility obviously is magnified when the devastation that’s been suffered is so near to us.

Haitians are our neighbors in the Americas. And for Americans, they are family and friends. It’s characteristic of the American people to help others in time of such severe need.

That’s the spirit that we will need to sustain this effort as it goes forward. There are going to be many difficult days ahead. So many people are in need of assistance. The port continues to be closed, and the roads are damaged. Food is scarce, and so is water.

It will take time to establish distribution points so that we can ensure that resources are delivered safely and effectively and in an orderly fashion.

But I want the people of Haiti to know that we will do what it takes to save lives and to help them get back on their feet.

In this effort, I want to thank our people on the ground, our men and women in uniform, who have moved so swiftly, our civilians and embassy staff, many of whom suffered their own losses in this tragedy, and those members of search-and-rescue teams from Florida and California and Virginia, who’ve left their homes and their families behind to help others. To all of them, I want you to know that you demonstrate the courage and decency of the American people, and we are extraordinarily proud of you.

I also want to thank the American people more broadly.

In these tough times, you’ve shown extraordinary compassion, already donating millions of dollars.

I encourage all of you who want to help to do so through whitehouse.gov, where you can learn about how to contribute.

And tomorrow I will be meeting with President Clinton and President George W. Bush here at the White House to discuss how to enlist and help the American people in this recovery and rebuilding effort going forward.

I would note that as I ended my call with President Preval he said that he has been extremely touched by the friendship and the generosity of the American people. It was an emotional moment.

And this president, seeing the devastation around him, passed this message to the American people. He said, “From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the people of Haiti, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

As I told president, we realize that he needs more help and his country needs more help, much more. And in this difficult hour, we will continue to provide it.

Many of Annie Nocenti’s film students at the Ciné Institute in Jacmel, Haiti, lost their homes in this week’s devastating earthquake. Some may have lost friends and family members; as in much of the country, the scope of the disaster is not yet clear. “But they are out on the streets now, shooting and editing,” she says. “They can get into places nobody else will ever go, and interview people outside news crews will never meet. This is what we trained them for.”

In the wake of Tuesday’s catastrophic earthquake, Twitter has been inundated with calls for donations of baby formula to send to Haiti. One frequently re-tweeted message relayed an urgent, all-caps plea from a friend on-the-ground: “WE R DESPERATE 4 BABY FORMULA, NIPPLES/BOTTLES … .” Meanwhile, a much smaller rival campaign has been underway: “Please don’t send powdered formula to Haiti!” tweeted a doula in Long Beach, Calif. Later, a breast-feeding activist from Ontario, Canada wrote: “PLEASE! don’t send formula to Haiti! The women&children shouldn’t be victimised twice! Breastfeeding during emergencies is VITAL to health.”

Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush aren’t exactly kindred spirits. But they’ll be working together for at least a little while now, as President Obama has asked them to lead fundraising efforts in the wake of the earthquake that hit Haiti earlier this week. Below, a joint statement the two put out Thursday:

We are deeply saddened by the devastation and suffering caused by the recent earthquake in Haiti. The people of Haiti are in our thoughts and prayers.

We are pleased to accept President Obama’s request to lead private sector fundraising efforts. In the days and weeks ahead, we will draw attention to the many ways American citizens and businesses can help meet the urgent needs of the Haitian people.

Americans have a long history of showing compassion and generosity in the wake of tragedy. We thank the American people for rallying to help our neighbors in the Caribbean in their hour of suffering – and throughout the journey of rebuilding their nation.

For information on how you can contribute, please visit www.georgewbushcenter.com/haiti and www.clintonfoundation.org/haitiearthquake.