Should reporters bring more supplies into disaster areas

Last night (January 14, 2010) as I watched NBC nightly news with Brian Williams, I watched as Mr. Williams delivered his story about the devastation in Haiti; I noticed a large water bottle in his hand as many Haitians walked past him. As the Haitians walked by I noticed several of them staring not at the news crew, but Mr. Williams’ bottle of water. These people have been displaced for several days with very little food or water and Mr. Williams is waving a bottle of water around in front of them. Reporters who fly into a region that has suffered a catastrophic event should take extra care not to insult the local population. Just imagine if you had been without food or water and a news crew from overseas landed with just enough provisions for the news crew.

To Mr. Williams’ credit, he did realize what he was doing and slid the water bottle into his pocket. Unfortunately not once did he offer any one water or assistance. He looked as if he was uncomfortable interviewing the victims. Mr. Williams’ report lacked compassion for the injured or the dead. If this had been a news paper article, I would have thought it was written for the sole purpose of selling news papers. Maybe that is why NBC extend the Nightly News, to sell more television ads.

If a major network is going to send reporters into a disaster area, they should send them with extra provisions since they seem to arrive days ahead of the first wave of global aide. This natural reminds me of the 2004 tsunami disaster in the south pacific, the region will receive global support for a short period of time and then fade to the background.

http://podcast.msnbc.com/audio/podcast/MSNBC-NN-NETCAST-M4V.xml