# Hatii News Coverage **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 14, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatii-news-coverage/524945 "2010-01-14T17:06:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatii-news-coverage/524945/41 "2010-01-16T08:50:45Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > On BBC radio this morning they kind of stressed the “rotting bodies litter the streets/children sleeping among the dead/overpowering stench” angles. I wonder if it is a leeeetle too raw for the likes of Katie Couric out there, and they are desperately trying to show something other than rubble and decaying corpses. > > It strikes me that this is the type of tragedy that lends itself to radio reporting. There is a certain samey sameness to the video footage because basically there isn’t much to show. A bunch of destroyed shit and people in various stages of shock and grief. As tragedies go it’s a big one, but as _stories_ go there isn’t much to it at this point. I’d agree with these points too. What’s interesting is that both the BBC and Aunty (ABC) have run stories in which the locals have (quite reasonably IMHO) effectively said to the journos, “How about you lot fuck off and send some aid workers instead?” ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatii-news-coverage/524945/42 "2010-01-16T09:36:23Z")
Pisses me no end. I just wrote a note to a friend who’s upset about the the substance of the news from Haiti, understandably, about the type of coverage the networks are giving Haiti (and probably encouraging my friend to think I’m more than slightly insesitive to the news itself, on account of I told her I want less of it, given the poor quality of the coverage to date.) If they don’t have anything new to add, beyond what they just told us 15 minutes ago, why the fuck am I hearing it over and over again? That’s the function of a news crawl, not a live reporter. There are angles worth covering, such as the logistical issues with getting aid to distressed people quickly , but all this blather (sorry, Dan) about death counts and $ damage estimates and other stuff they’re plainly pulling out of their asses–this is news? “Reporting from Port-au-prince, where we don’t know fuckall, this is Cori Kaitic raising the estimate from 38,596 dead to very close to 40,000 now–the current estimate of the dead is now 39,977–whoops, correction, 39,978–on the low end and we don;t really have a high-end estimate yet. It stood at 401,183 yesterday but now that figure is in dispute because a death-count expert suggested it might be in the millions and another one suggested the zillions…” ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatii-news-coverage/524945/43 "2010-01-16T09:48:11Z")
To be fair, **PRR** , that’s a problem endemic in the Media in general. I hate the trend, but what would you put on 24 Hour TV News channels if reporters just said “You know Tom, the last time you asked me what was going on this place was fucked up. It’s _still_ fucked up, and when you ask me again in half an hour or so I can guarantee you it will _continue_ to be fucked up.” So that’s why you get talking heads arguing over What It All Means and the same (or similar) images of starving people scavenging through rubble and crying survivors and all that sort of thing. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do about it (the way the media works) besides “not watch”, which doesn’t change the fact that something horrible has happened (in this case in Haiti) and lots of people are genuinely suffering because of it. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatii-news-coverage/524945/44 "2010-01-16T09:57:13Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > I wonder if they sent Dr. Gupta, he does actually seem to do some good when he goes places. In addition to his help to the aforementioned baby, here’s another Dr. Gupta piece where he is the [last doctor to leave an aid station](http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/16/haiti.abandoned.patients/index.html?hpt=T1). He was getting pretty pissed about the whole situation. Sanjay Gupta may be a reporter from time to time, but apparently he’s a doctor all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatii-news-coverage/524945/45 "2010-01-17T06:57:32Z")
Thread after thread: “TV news sucks! Waaaaaaaaaaaah” Yeah, no shit, dumbfucks. Stop watching shitty TV news! Have you people never heard of NPR or the internet? If CNN sucks so bad, why do you watch it? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatii-news-coverage/524945/46 "2010-01-17T07:44:08Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > Thread after thread: “TV news sucks! Waaaaaaaaaaaah” > > Yeah, no shit, dumbfucks. Stop watching shitty TV news! Have you people never heard of NPR or the internet? If CNN sucks so bad, why do you watch it? It’s often on in the background at work or in shops, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![straykat23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatii-news-coverage/524945/47 "2010-01-18T22:05:48Z")
Here’s more coverage of what Dr. Gupta is doing: [http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/category/dr-sanjay-gupta/](http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/category/dr-sanjay-gupta/) This is from Anderson Cooper’s blog - I think he’s doing a remarkable job as well. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatii-news-coverage/524945/48 "2010-01-25T23:15:47Z")
Frtom the front page of Fox News > [@](#): > > Italian Official Adds Insult to Injury > > Rome’s top disaster official blasts U.S. relief effort in Haiti as a ‘pathetic’ show for TV | SLIDESHOW (Graphic) > • LIVESHOTS: Fox News Reporters in Haiti > - Serrie on USS Bataan | Foster at Ruined Office ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatii-news-coverage/524945/49 "2010-01-26T02:23:40Z")
And some listeners of NPR’s [All Things Considered](http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=122623138&m=122623091) thought it was inappropriate and unprofessional to broadcast a journalist who is overcome by the tragedy before him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatii-news-coverage/524945.md?page=2)