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The amount of coverage is intense. This piece titled “Media Struggle to Cover Disaster” in the Times examines news coverage, especially television reporting, of the Haitian earthquake disaster.
As is often the case, the journalistic professional value of detachment is challenged and changed in crisis coverage. If the story is reported in the zone of shared values, then both detachment and objectivity becomes less important for reporters and audiences.
What do you think?
I’ll admit that the suffering in Haiti is almost too much for me to bear, as I watch some of the television coverage and news photographs as I try to get my head around this tragedy.
Nevertheless, we should be vigilant about how the story is told. I’ve been watching som CNN, read the NY Times coverage, and looked around the Internet. The coverage seems immediate, urgent, and dramatic. I was worried about narratives about looting (whether it happens or not), but haven’t seen much about it so far.
Haiti’s proximity to the US meant that American reporters were on the scene quickly.
Do you have any reactions about the tragedy and the coverage?
Hatians have always needed our thoughts, prayers, and help. Now, more than ever.
I would encourage you to read this short piece by the author Tracy Kidder that appears in the Times.
Thank you all for a great semester. Please check back and contribute to the blog in future semesters. I’ll be soliciting a few alumni bloggers to serve as contributors next semester – post if your interested!
Enjoy the break!
Congratulations! Its the last class and your papers are done. You made it!!! Just the final exam to go…
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Fake News, Satire, & Critique Fall 2009
Published 7 December 2009 Contemporary Journalism , Opinion Journalism , public screen 22 Comments
Contested History, Memory & Geography Fall 2009
Published 30 November 2009 current students 18 Comments
A story on NPR this morning tells of the phenomenon of “suicide clusters” that occur among adolescents. The story also includes recommendations to reporters on how to cover suicides in ways that discourage the kind of complex processes that lead to suicide clusters.
Its worth a listen. These kind of recommendations are not provided by an news organization or a ethics board (like the Society of Professional Journalists), but by researchers and advocacy organizations. What responsibility do journalists have in following such recommendations?
Yesterday was Buy Nothing Day in the U.S., and today is International Buy Nothing Day. Its an interesting strategy, and mixes with performance art, theater, and old-fashioned sign holding. Activists and everyday folks participate for a variety of reasons: poor labor conditions of Chinese workers; global trade policies; consumption replacing citizenship; the commodification of religious holidays; and environmental issues. Here are some photos:
Meanwhile, mainstream news outlets celebrated the frenzy down at the mall. The New York Times ran a front page story today about how people are cutting back, but still our there on “Black Friday.”
As we might expect (although its still interesting), the story does not address the larger issues that Buy Nothing Day participants try to bring to the surface through participation in the public screen. If anyone read articles or saw stories about Buy Nothing Day in your local media, send in the links.
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