Thursday, December 30, 2004
More Praise For CNN's Tsunami Disaster Coverage
Source: Fall's Church News-Press Sincere kudos to the media, with CNN taking the lead in this case, for giving the epochal disaster in Asia the attention it deserves. It was at about 8 p.m. on Christmas night, East Coast time, when the underwater earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, a 9.0 on the Richter scale, set off the mammoth "tsunami" tidal surge that swept across the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, wiping out what may exceed 100,000 lives in a matter of moments.
The numbers, too staggering to imagine, could more than double by the time a full inventory is taken of all the stricken areas, and the water-borne diseases arising from contamination take their toll.
The first reports of the event indicated a few hundred fatalities, but as more very scattered and sketchy accounts began to roll in, the profile of something far more ominous began to emerge. With the benefit of satellite access to initial streaming images of the holocaust, CNN led other 24-hour news organizations in a news blitz that left the major network operations, snoozing over a holiday weekend, in the proverbial dust.
Thanks to CNN, it was not difficult for governments to mobilize major relief efforts within hours of the catastrophe. By yesterday, only four days after the tsunami hit, over $225 million had been raised from the international community for the relief effort, the most in such a short period of time, according to United Nations officials, in history. The story has remained the focus of the virtually undivided attention at CNN since, as well it should be. It has dwarfed any single tragic event in our lifetimes.
# posted by ATN @ 5:13 PM 
