[KR...]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa Just watched a bit of CNN and it does seem like it's sanitized. When I watch Dutch TV I see suvivors walking between the countless bodies searching for their loved ones. Bodies floating in water when others walk trough that same pool of water to get to their what used to be houses. . The pictures on CNN showed wrecked cars, houses and boats. And the dead people were not shown up close. I don't know what is the right thing to show. I know I sometimes look away to just not see the horror. I guess as journalist you have to make a decision to show just enough to get the message across and no needless horrifying pictures that serve no purpose and can be disrespectful to the victims. But where is that line?

No suprise there, the US TV news shows NEVER, EVER show the full horror of anything. I belive they are scared of crossing the line.

Don't belive me? Just compare it to nearly any other western country's news. They don't appear to even have a notion of a line.

 

[Lisa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears Certainly, journalists need ethics as well as the next person! But, when you have a calamity of such epic proportions, I think that it is necessary to show it as accurately as possible. This is the history of the world we are talking about, and it will do no one any good to know 5 or 10 months down the line that American response may have been muted because the media "sanitized" their coverage. Already, I hear a lot of people complaining that the US is contributing too much, and that tax-payers should get a deduction from their taxes if they don't want to send money to the ravaged areas! It's totally ridiculous, because the most important thing any human being can do is to realize that we are all part of the larger community stuck on this one small planet.

You're absolutely right.
The only point I wanted to make is when they show bodies floating in low water with people walking through it. Then I get the picture that this is bad, really bad. I don't need to see a whole lot of close ups to understand what the people walking through that poluted water are seeing, and have to live in and clean up. But you do need to show enough to let it sink in with most people. (They've showed a lot overhere but left the grossest picture mostly unseen.)

But lets stop this discussion. It's not the outside forum and the reason of the thread should be to inform others.

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KR... No suprise there, the US TV news shows NEVER, EVER show the full horror of anything. I belive they are scared of crossing the line. Don't belive me? Just compare it to nearly any other western country's news. They don't appear to even have a notion of a line.

In this catastrophe, that line seems so far from the reality. When I first heard, over the radio, that there had been a magnitude 9 earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, I woke up with a start. Having a little knowledge of the richter scale, I knew that an earthquake of that magnitude in an area of the world with great population density was going to result in tens of thousands of death. A few minutes later, when the first news of the tidal waves came in, I knew that I could increase the number by a factor of 10. I'm no geologist or global affairs expert, just someone who reads and tries her best to understand, but I knew that this was going to be one of the worst global catastrophes in centuries. The average person probably does not have a way to assess the extremity of the damage without graphic news coverage. Film footage cannot convey the stench of rotting flesh. One picture of an orphaned child cannot bring home the reality of the suffering of tens of thousands of mothers and children. This is a disaster that is most important because of the scale of the tragedy. Anything that minimizes the scale does disservice to the victims.

 

[Tim D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa But lets stop this discussion. It's not the outside forum and the reason of the thread should be to inform others.

I would like to delude myself into thinking that the human psyche is not so primitive as to require a constant dosage of streaming video to attain a global empathy and awareness.

But agreed, that debate is left for outside. Some people feel the need to soak up and internalize all the grief they can, others just want to be made aware, and still others choose to know even less. Wheter you feel one way is right or wrong over another is not up for debate here.

Talk on wheter they should show more or less is no different from the topic of what you would want your own children to watch or not, and is really an outside topic.

 

[Bunnyears]

In 1883, Mt. Krakatoa erupted in the same area of the world. It generated huge tidal waves as well, and the explosions were heard as far away as Rodriguez Island, 4653 km across the Indian Ocean. Ash fell on Singapore, and the dust cloud generated flaming sunsets for years afterwards that may have been the inspiration for Munch's famous picture "The Scream" that takes place on a bridge in Norway! At that time, it was believed that more than 35,000 people were killed as a result. Who knows how accurate that estimate is, as the tidal waves generated were in excess of 40 meters high in some places.

Whatever you think now, there was no CNN then, no world press with photos and video to bring the horror home to the rest of the world. It was unremarked by most of the world, except as a small story in the newspapers. When you hear people say that technology has "shrunk the globe," now you will understand that this means that sitting in my home safely in the USA, I can see and empathize with those who have had their lives torn apart by nature half a globe away, and I can at least try to help by writing a check. Only 121 years ago, I wouldn't have known, nor would the rest of the world have found out until the time of emergency was long past. We hardly remember Krakatoa, if we had remembered, maybe there would have been a tsunami warning system in place in the Indian Ocean. I'm glad the news is covering this so extensively, it may help to prevent a great loss of life in the future.

 

[eyeteeth]

I always remember having read quite a lot about the Holocaust as a young person and was fully aware of the horror of and details of the event. By chance my chosen books were text only and I had what could be considered a full picture of the nightmarish apparatus. Only afterward did I see those ghastly black and white photographs of heaping piles of flesh clad human skeletons. I realized words could not accurately transcribe this sight with the same impact as seeing the visual reality.

I prefer being as informed as possible. I don't appreciate the sanitization or editorialization of the facts of life and death by the entertainment industry or mass media. I am not a child. Regarding the victims of the recent tsunami, I am their fellow human being and my choice is that I'd rather see, if only briefly, the faces of those persons perished on the other side of the world rather than have them always, entirely unknown to me.

 

[Bunnyears]

Eyeteeth, I have to agree with you. Sometimes truth is terrible, but if we do not look at it, we diminish our reactions, and we diminish ourselves as human beings. The line must be drawn at the sight of violence for the sake of titilation. Movies that make so much of dismemberment, torture, bullets, knife wounds etc, can not be compared to the horrors of such a natural catastrophe.

 

[KR...]

Thailand May Have Delayed Tsunami Warning to Save Tourist Trade

Thailand’s Meteorological Department may have delayed sounding a tidal wave warning for fear it could damage the country’s lucrative tourism industry, officials indicated today.

Sulamee Prachuab, who heads the department’s Seismological Bureau, said the agency needed to be cautious because the government’s tourism agency deems that such warnings would hurt tourism if a predicted natural disaster didn’t occur.

read the rest here: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3934784

 

[gloco]

I got this from taperssection:

http://www.asiantsunamivideos.com/

 

[bhd812]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gloco I got this from taperssection: http://www.asiantsunamivideos.com/

that first video is amazing, you can clearly see the sea in its rinse state!

 

[Permonic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KR... Thailand May Have Delayed Tsunami Warning to Save Tourist Trade Thailand’s Meteorological Department may have delayed sounding a tidal wave warning for fear it could damage the country’s lucrative tourism industry, officials indicated today. Sulamee Prachuab, who heads the department’s Seismological Bureau, said the agency needed to be cautious because the government’s tourism agency deems that such warnings would hurt tourism if a predicted natural disaster didn’t occur. read the rest here: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3934784

It's better to rely on yourself and build your own DYI seismograph. E.g. for the price of PPA or Pimeta you can have one: http://www.infiltec.com/seismo If I would live in a seismic area I will definitely have one.

 

[Bunnyears]

Has anyone seen the cartoon X Presidents on Sat. Night Live? It would seem that W is a real fan or something, as he has now sent the XPresidents to solve the problems of the Tsumami! It was so bizarre seeing Clinton and Bush 41 sitting together and kidding each other as if they were best friends! I really don't know what to make of this. What's really interesting is that they are going to be tapping large corporations and philanthropists for donations to the relief funds. A step away from political fundraising? Just hope that 41 remembers to tap his own i-bank, Carlyle Group.

 

[BigD]

Well, many will use this horrific tsunami disaster as their political gain. Be it personal or regional or international. It's simply human nature to react like this.

But what's important is so far ahead of us. It's now week 2 in relief effort. Many individuals and countries pledged to help in this massive scale destruction. This rebuilding process will take much longer than these 2 weeks. I hope media keeps covering the aftermath of SE Asian catastrophe. Only way to ensure and monitor the long term development in the region. Personally I would love to have this discussion again in a year time from now which would indicate things are really moving and getting done.

 

[eyeteeth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigD Well, many will use this horrific tsunami disaster as their political gain. Be it personal or regional or international. It's simply human nature to react like this.

I'm fine with people getting something out of it for themselves so long as the victims gain something where they'd have gotten nothing at all otherwise. I'd rather people give for selfish reasons than not give at all. And even if 9 0f 10 dollars I gave were wasted, I'd still give so that that one dollar made it through.

 

[BigD]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeteeth I'm fine with people getting something out of it for themselves so long as the victims gain something where they'd have gotten nothing at all otherwise. I'd rather people give for selfish reasons than not give at all. And even if 9 0f 10 dollars I gave were wasted, I'd still give so that that one dollar made it through.

Eyeteeth, you're too nice and generous. I hate to see 9 of 10 dollars going elsewhere. No money vs. some money is unquestionable, but little money vs. some money is questionable.