You better suffer quickly than slowly

The reason why some disasters receive more media coverage than others may reside in their length rather than their impacts

Journalists and NGO workers were invited yesterday by the International Journalism Festival at the Centre Servizi G. Alessi to address the issue of reporting human disasters. Discussing the reasons why Haiti received more media attention following the earthquake in January 2010 than the floods in Pakistan six months later led to a common, breathtaking conclusion.

”Haiti was a good subject for photography, and [even more important] it was sudden,” said Giovanni Porzio, 60, reporter for Panorama. ”In Pakistan, the problem was that the crisis evolved over weeks, which is not good for media organization who send their reporters [on location]*. 

Haiti had a catastrophe providing good pictures and angles to reporters, writing breaking news stories to their home audience. Within a few seconds, an entire country was affected and millions of people lost everything, from their homes to parts of their lives. Such a disaster affecting the poorest country in the Americas increased the already precarious human conditions and completely destroyed the capital Port-au-Prince.

Pakistan’s floods did not offer similar sensationalist pictures so quickly. According to Porzio, the fact that it took weeks before the reach a climax probably discouraged many news organizations to keep their reporters on location. Having a journalist in Pakistan costs money that some newspapers or TV channels probably didn’t have.

But Porzio made his point reminding the audience that the Pakistan floods significantly increased human diseases and destroyed villages that are still not rebuilt today. He remained convinced that the disaster was newsworthy and merited more space that what has been done.

”Many villages are [still] only reachable by boat. Since basic health treatments are not provided, services provided by [NGOs] are crucial, eventhough we see an increase of malaria and tuberculosis in the country,” he said.

Talking to an audience made of journalist and journalism students, these facts regarding Pakistan didn’t seem to surprise them. But providing news stories on the evolution of human conditions in the region – which would be read or viewed by a broader audience – could be newsworthy at the same time as having an education purpose.

The decision to increase the coverage resides in the hands of those who write news stories. And those players are currently attending meetings in Perugia.

* (To readers: since the discussion was held in Italian, all quotes included in this story are translations written by the journalist.)

Hugo Pilon-Larose