I can't watch any more Haiti coverage on TV.

[cherokeeprogressive]

I've driven past enough automobile accidents after living in So. Cal. for most of my life that the curiosity is no longer there. I can drive by without looking to my left or my right after having been stuck in traffic for the last twenty minutes, and having seen the flashing emergency vehicle lights from a mile away as I crawled (the way traffic crawls) toward the accident scene.

The networks are in this for money. If there's a commercial shown during a network's coverage, the network is making money. I'm not going to help them do that. I'm sick and tired of TV networks making money on the backs of human tragedy.

Hey ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and all others... I don't want to see your network anchors in Port Au Prince any longer. I want to know that you spent the money it takes to keep them "on the ground" and supported, on things that matter like FUCKING RELIEF EFFORTS.

Bring your anchors home and put them on TV. THEN, tell me that the money spent on advertising during the time you're reporting on the earthquake will be wholly and totally donated to the HAITIANS. Then I'll watch.

Until then, I'm done with your TV coverage and your lure of graphic photos and video footage... when Human Tragedy News returns, right after this message.

In the case of Haiti, as with other recent natural disasters, I have donated money I can't afford to people I don't know, without asking anything in return. Conversely, the TV networks send their anchors to Haiti with the TOTAL expectation that their investment will be returned in the form of advertising dollars.

It's a game I'm not going to play any longer. I'll get my news elsewhere.

That said, my heart goes out to the People of Haiti. Would that I could make it seem like the season on Dallas after Bobby got shot; All just a bad dream that never happened. Alas; that's not within my limited power. So, the best I can do is keep texting to 90999 even though I know that in the end I might not be able to pay my cell phone bill without scrimping on some other area of my life...

[FrenchieCat]

1. At this point, the reports are becoming not much more than exploitation......

because I believe that all who are working at rescue are doing the best that the can,
considering that we are talking about 2 million people, and there is no magic in rescue efforts; like when the miners were trapped in the mine. It wouldn't matter how badly one wanted to get them
out, it was still an ordeal that wasn't going to just last a hot minute.

Since I haven't seen AC 360 sharing his water ration while lamenting that folks aren't being rescued, it's getting somewhat grotesque, what these media stations are doing.

[cherokeeprogressive]

2. I am normally at odds with a lot of your posts, but on this we agree completely.

It's exploitation of human tragedy for monetary gain.

I actually heard a newsperson today say "WE saved two people from a collapsed building"... I had to wonder how much cement and rebar can be moved with a microphone and a camera.

[FrenchieCat]

4. I dislike the way they show the same images over and over again......in the same footage!

It's like the guy passes by, and then a truck, and then the same guy passes by again, then the truck, etc.....
then AC standing somewhere, and things are happening behind him, but they don't really show that,
just him looking back and then describing what he is seeing.

It's kind of odd.


PS. It good that we can agree on somethings!

[quiller4]

11. There are showing old footage and they are not showing the

relief work that is underway giving too many the impression that nothing is happening yet.

It is really disturbing to aid workers who spent 12 hours in the hot sun distributing water and MREs to peole to hear news anchors repeatedly ask when food and water distribution will start. Dianne Sawyer was particularly bad today. It is no wonder she can't get any of the aid agencies to talk to her.

[OnyxCollie]

5. With extensive live coverage,

the editing is left to those least responsible, i.e. the on-air talent. It happened often after 9/11.

News media most commonly takes the point of view espoused by the authority agents, forcing the viewing populace to move in a certain direction.

[aquart]

12. Yeah, real "grotesque". I'm sure they must be lying or exaggerating.

<http://twitter.com/DanielleCNN>

http://twitpic.com/yayqh - these critically ill ppl were rescued today then abandoned. @sanjayguptacnn trying to keep them alive tonight #ha 27 minutes ago from TwitPic

still here w/ the abandoned patients-changing IV bags, trying to keep them stabilized, comfortable. Cant believe they were alone#haiti about 2 hours ago from mobile web

@sanjayguptacnn & our CNN crew & security will stay 2nite w/ these critically ill patients. Sanjay only doc here. We won't leave them #haiti about 5 hours ago from UberTwitter

CNN crew only ppl left w/ these patients who were treated, then left in a field. UN sited "security of the docs" as the reason. #haiti about 5 hours ago from UberTwitter

BREAKING -UN just came to field hosp & made the docs pack up and LEAVE the #hatie patients they treated earlier here by themselves 2nite about 5 hours ago from UberTwitter

http://twitpic.com/y8bnw - @sanjayguptacnn & i headed to triage site for the ppl being rescued from the rubble in #haiti 72 hours later. #su about 11 hours ago from TwitPic

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. Can someone please translate this into... any language? It doesn't have to be English. n/t

[Fumesucker]

16. It's Twitter, not language..

It is not mere coincidence that the first syllable of Twitter is "Twit"..

[Jamastiene]

21. +1

[blondeatlast]

22. ...

:spray:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

31. Look, I can read PERL. And I'm a geek. And Twitter still doesn't make any sense to me.

:-D

[Fumesucker]

32. If programming languages were religion..

http://blog.aegisub.org/2008/12/if-programming-languages-were-religions.html

Perl would be Voodoo - An incomprehensible series of arcane incantations that involve the blood of goats and permanently corrupt your soul. Often used when your boss requires you to do an urgent task at 21:00 on friday night.

<...>

Visual Basic would be Satanism - Except that you don't REALLY need to sell your soul to be a Satanist...

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

33. I said I could read it, not write it. :-)

My code writing days are over. I'm currently busy rising to my level of incompetence. Yay management!

[lunatica]

25. From what I gather you read it from the bottom up

The last tweet being the one at the top.

Maybe I'm showing my age but I find it a particularly silly form of communication, except in cases where it's the only communication available like during the marches in Iran.

[Arugula Latte]

30. It's basically saying that CNN's Sanjay Gupta (a doctor) and crew were

the only people helping injured people who had been in a makeshift hospital and then abandoned by UN doctors due to security concerns.

[Contrary1]

3. I have not watched any of it...

Because I know how I am, and the images will be with me forever. It is not a case of if I don't watch, it's not happening.

I have a gift, or maybe a curse for remembering faces. Every now and then; I will run into someone I went to grade school or worked with. After 40+ years, I still remember how they looked way back then.

I can still see the faces of Katrina. I can't bear to watch the coverage on Haiti.

[Jamastiene]

6. On this, we agree.

All many of the reporters are doing is walking around and complaining about the smell of all the dead bodies. If they'd put down the damn microphones and cameras and help, they wouldn't have to smell nearly as many dead, the fucking bastards. The gleam in their eyes is too much for me. I, for one, could do without that.

Dirty Laundry by Don Henly describes them PERFECTLY.

http://lyrics.wikia.com/Don_Henley

I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something that I can use
People love it when you lose
They love dirty laundry

Well I could have been an actor
But I wound up here
I just have to look good
I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
We need dirty laundry

Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em all around

We got the bubble-headed bleach blonde
Comes on at five
She can tell ya 'bout the plane crash
With a gleam in her eye
It's int'resting when people die
Give us dirty laundry

Can we film the operation
Is the head dead yet
Y'know the boys in the newsroom
Got a running bet
Get the widow on the set
We need dirty laundry

You don't really need to find out
What's going on
You don't want to know just
How far it's gone
Just leave well enough alone
Keep your dirty laundry

Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em where they sit
Kick 'em all around

Dirty little secrets
Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers
In ev'rybody's pies
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry

We can do the innuendo
We can dance and sing
When it's said and done we haven't
Told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry

Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em all around

[cherokeeprogressive]

7. +10 n/t

[FrenchieCat]

8. It's like Anderson doesn't realize that this isn't about a feel good story,

and the disaster cannot be undone.

I just called CNN and told them that I'm starting to feel like they are exploiting this story...
I told them that they needed to stop editorializing so much, and just report the history of the country, and why there is no infrastructure there to begin with, and how this DOES NOT COMPARE to Katrina, in terms of the entire magnitude and the existing conditions.

[TeeYiYi]

28. I'm glad you called...

I don't have cable so I can't call with an informed viewpoint, but I remember well, the coverage of Katrina and 911. I have an addictive personality so I was literally almost unable to look away during that unfortunate media blitz of disaster porn.

Media exploitation of disaster situations has been over the top for a long time. They're always looking for their next windstorm or icy patch on the road. Just watching Nightline for a few minutes last night made me feel the need to take a shower. I quickly changed the channel to Letterman.

Again, thank you for calling CNN.

I'm glad I don't have cable.

TYY

[KharmaTrain]

9. If The Cameras Go Off...Everything Goes Dark...

Not that I care for a lot of the coverage I'm seeing, but there have been some fascinating reports that opened up the scope of this tragedy to the world. Without the cameras no one will see the suffering or will be prompted to act. This is a cruel tragedy that is of a scope few of us have ever seen, but it's also putting a light on the plight of this country and offers them their next best hope. If supplies don't get to people in the next couple days, it will be because those cameras are there that the pressure will come to get relief workers and supplies into the field.

Trust me, the money the networks are making on this are minimal. Their celebrity is what will keep this story front and center. For once they're doing what they should be...if the coverage is painful, so be it...life is cruel.

Cheers...

[pipi_k]

17. Lots of people have been prompted to act...

but now the larger problem is how to get the necessary aid to those people.

No coordination. Planes with supplies can't land. At least, that's what we're being told. I don't believe rescue operations are failing because they want to fail.


That's what's frustrating to me about this whole thing. I made my donation the other night. I did what I could. But I can't go there personally and coordinate rescue/recovery/first aid operations, and when we're shown images of people who need help not being able to get it, I feel powerless and discouraged.

How can those of us who did donate to relief efforts do anything more if the "experts" at this, for whatever unavoidable reasons, can't even get things done more quickly?

I can't bear to see those people suffering knowing that the money and the aid is there and they can't get it.

:(

[KharmaTrain]

18. The Next Few Days Will Be Critical

Firstly, the Port Au Prince airport is nothing more than a landing strip...about the size of a small to medium size comuter airport. The C-130s are stacked up and fortunately the Vincent is handling air traffic control, but the size of the airport and its limited facilities (lack of fuel and storeage facilities) have surely been a problem, but that's just one of many.

All the troops won't mean a thing if they can't travel on the ground...roads remain cluttered with debris along with a shortage of delivery vehicles and distribution centers. There's no civil authority to coordinate things, thus the relief missions are having to play it by ear...many in a country they not only aren't familiar with but where langugage and cultural barriers can be problematic.

Here's hoping that we'll start seeing some improvement over the next day...water and food working its way to those in need, but the scope of this disaster is widespread an so many are affected that its overwhelmed not just the NGOs on the ground but those trying to bring in and distribute aid.

Yes, it's frustrating to see things moving slowly, but considering all the obstacles, this scope of this tragedy is one that is rarely been seen. I have faith in relief getting to these people, but it will take time...and that's what's agonizing. Here's hoping the literal roadblocks get removed and the supplies begin to move inland.

[Jamastiene]

23. But the MSM has managed to get in there with their own supplies.

I guess they have special supernatural maneuvering abilities that relief organizations do not have. Imagine if each MSM talking head had loaded their choppers with a few pallets of water and rations...anything at all to share with the surviving victims of this tragedy. Or perhaps if they put the damn microphones down and lifted a finger to help, one more life could be saved. Is that one life not worth it to them? Can't the film a few minutes, then help a few hours? Are they immune to human kindness?

[KharmaTrain]

26. Keeping It Visible...

The networks have meager crews on the ground...a cameraman, producer and reporters...and they probably had to fight their way onto charters to get there. It's not like CNN has its own airplanes and humvees. By putting out all the pictures they are...not the blather and personality...they're keeping this ongoing tragedy front and center around the world. It's those pictures that are leading to millions being donated and a large relief effort going on. Imagine how much worse things would be without the all-glaring eye watching.

[FrenchieCat]

10. If the comments made by this DUer are correct, than something is wrong at CNN!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7477858&mesg_id=7478578

[stray cat]

14. Your choice but hardly a GAME

[stray cat]

15. I won't easily judge those who are on the front lines while I'm sitting here in comfort

exerting myself by texting with two fingers for a donation

[HipChick]

19. I reached that point with the Katrina coverage..after a man was describing that he was clinging to a

tree and trying to hold onto his wife, and he just couldn't hold onto to her anymore..his voice started breaking..It was heartbreaking...I'll keep donating..don't know what else I can do..

[Carbinedevil]

20. Donating money is useless.

What else do you want the networks to do?

Donating money is useless at the moment. The USA has pledged $100 million. So what? The money isn't going to reach Haiti today, tomorrow, or next week. Even if you give them now, there's nothing Haitians can do - they can't buy anything with it.

Newsreporters present and report facts. So what if there are ads? Aren't the newspapers full of them even at serious or sombre articles? If you don't want to see ads, then go to the toilet or something. Nobody is forcing you to turn all melodramatic and cry about how Mcdonald's advertisement is up when people are dying by the thousands in Haiti.

[Jamastiene]

24. That $100 million could be used to buy water and food rations

and gas to fly over and drop the water and food rations to the survivors.

MSM could quit being morbid and quit rubbernecking and do a little damn digging to get survivors that won't be survivors much longer if someone doesn't fucking rescue them.

Use your noodle. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that they are exploiting this just for ratings and money.

[Carbinedevil]

35. s

Thats easy to say, but what if the Haiti airport was so poor on infrastructure that no matter how many planes you dispense you won't be able to land at the airport? And even if you airdrop the supplies, it's only going to cause a massive fight for the food since these guys have been going foodless for almost 3 days. And see the looters with their guns? They probably gun down hundreds of people so they can lay their hands on the supplies and hoard it.

[lunatica]

27. The juxtaposition of the reporting interrupted by the ads

is jarring and bizarre. It's time to realize that ads are what lulls us to sleep in this country. During regular times they portray consumerism as the way to happiness and fulfillment while we're losing our jobs and homes. And right now we are watching real human beings in the worst possible natural disaster conditions interrupted by ads for luxury cars, fast food, bottled water and pharmaceuticals as the manna of life.

It always disgusts me, but right now it's particularly obscene. But maybe it serves the purpose of making people notice the obvious manipulation of ads.

[FrenchieCat]

29. That is true. They should dispense with the ads for like 1 hour at a time, IMO!

[Name removed]

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