"Oh, **** yeah."One thing that really baffles me about CNN-strand of journalism is its blatantly poor journalistic standard.
I watched with amazement at Kristie Lu Stout's question to the traumatised earthquake victims in Sichuan: "Are you angry?"
What does she mean exactly?
Would she ask the same question to victims of Hurricane Katrina? "Are you angry that your house has just been swept away?"
If that questions were asked at a shoot-out at - where else but - an American university, it would have been justified, since the casualty is human-inflicted, so to speak. It is out of freewill that a mad man decided to gun down his fellow humans.
The earthquake is a natural disaster. The Great Hanshin Earthquake or Kobe Earthquake was 7.2 on the adjusted Richter scale. And the buildings fell down like a deck of Dominoes. And the Japanese are known for their earthquake-ready buildings.
The picture above was taken in 1995 at Kobe. The recent earthquake in China was 7.8 on the Richter scale. Even the mightiest of tower would have collapsed under such a circumstances.Stout's question is therefore not only out of context, but inhumane. At its most fundamental function, a journalist's role is to shed light on the matters.
Since day one and on ground level, the Communist elites have been mobilising troops and pulling all the available strings to help victims cope. Where were George W Bush when Katrina struck ?
I do not know how they train their journalists at CNN (or as a matter of fact, the BBC Empire Service, oh, sorry, I mean WORLD Service - I'm used to the old name). Is it "Just report whatever that would bring down China, Russia and anyone who are against us"? Maybe.
What they taught me at journalism school was that the first casualty, in not only a war, but in this case, a natural disaster of such a huge magnitude, is truth. When everything is politicised - truth suffers and human life are at stake.
When your friend's house was flooded out in a mud slide, would you ask her "Are you angry?" Would you ask: "Do you think the corrupted government who allowed logging companies to (legally) wipe out the whole forest on the mountain is to blame?"
I don't think so. Unless you are jealous of your neighbour's house and her new Porsche 911 GT2, of course.
2 comments:
so far the worldwide consensus on china's response to the earthquake has been positive; but i can't help but wonder if your comparison to hurricane katrina is appropriate.
one has to keep in mind that the main reason why the chinese "communist elite" is seen as being quite responsive is because its reactions are being compared to that of the burmese junta; a government that has refused foreign aid worker access, and prefers to hold an election while 2 million of its people continue to suffer from the aftermaths of the cyclone.
with a death toll of 20 times that of hurricane katrina, the magnitude of the disaster is not really one for comparison, except for the media coverage perhaps.
we should also consider the amount of information that is available, i.e the fact that china is refusing entry to a portion of foreign rescue workers, or the number of independent media reports from the area itself.
i know i sound like a pessimistic skeptic, but i just wonder if the chinese are indeed doing a better job than the americans, simply because we can't hear the voices of complaints.
There are bound to be hiccups. Honestly, nobody is prepared for such a massive earthquake. I'm not trying to prepare the Chinese Earthquake's rescue process to that of Katrina's or Nargis'. I'm just baffled by the Western Media's tendency to politicise their reports - any report - about China. Just read the latest article on the New York Times.
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