HOWARD KURTZ is slamming the media so hard that he almost sounds like a blogger!

The fact that most of those left behind in the New Orleans flood were poor and black is being treated by the press as a stunning revelation–“A National Shame,” as Newsweek’s cover put it.

But not exactly a national secret. . . .

This is not a story, like whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that was difficult to get at. But journalists rarely venture into impoverished neighborhoods these days, except for quick-hit features. When a woman from one of these communities goes missing, it doesn’t attain the status of a Natalee Holloway drama. . . .

The media have had a fine old time ridiculing Michael Brown, who quit last week as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as a former Arabian horse expert with no background for the job. And as The Post reported, five of the agency’s top eight officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters. But why did journalists never get around to pointing this out in the past? Why are agencies such as FEMA never covered until disaster strikes?

Preach it, brother Howard. I’d like to see people explore why New Orleans hasn’t shared in the prosperity that we’ve seen in other big Southern cities. Political corruption — another undercovered story — probably has a lot to do with it.

Meanwhile, Bush in a Tree thinks that this will reinvigorate John Edwards’ presidential hopes.