Haiti - journalists obsessed with death toll
 

What's with this obsession with the death toll in this awful disaster?

Almost every serious news item and the question is asked in the most stupid circumstances. "And our man has just stepped off the plane - is it too early to give us an idea of the death toll?" Well of course it bloody is and why is this so important. Clearly it is tens of thousands but perhaps "Death toll reaches 500,000" makes a good headline :o

I wonder if Obama or the UN chief has enough clout to commandeer one of those new super liners which can accommodate thousands? Park it off the coast and use it as a hospital ship and housing for a few thousand. Perhaps Obama could blackmail the US banks to contribute to the costs and help their street cred. I think Thatcher nobbled some British Lord to "lend" one of his cruise ship to help in the Falklands.

dl

Couldn't agree more.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of them turned up one day with a Blue Peter stylee Death Toll Totaliser.

They were same with the tsunami a few years back.

A country's goverment can only requisition a passenger or cargo vessel for use in service if said vessel is registered in that country. The Canberra, QE2, Atlantic Conveyor, and others requisitioned for use during the Falklands conflict were all registered members of the Merchant Navy.

AFAIK most cruise ships are registered in Carribean or Far Eastern countries, which puts them outside the command of Obama.

Because a Death Toll give a better example of just how bed things are.

Just showing pictures of the damage and stating lots of people have died, doesn't really give the extent of the crisis. "Lots of people" could be 100, or 500. Who knows??

Saying 300,000 have died gives the viewer (Who will be asked over the next few weeks to donate money) the grime reality of just how bad the disaster is. Huge gap between assuming a few hundred have died, and 300,000.

I found it strange this morning on the news when they interviewed a large group of Christian missionaries LEAVING Haiti! :wonder:

I thought they would be needed now more than ever to help out. :wonder:

Not sure what they actually do to be honest, but I thought they would be the kind of people to help rebuild communities etc. I guess it's that bad out there that there isn't anything they can do yet.

OK, how about "charter" rather than "commandeer"? The end result would be the same, and arguably the (not inconsiderable) cost would be borne more appropriately.

They are there to convert not help

I thought they helped as well, I guess not.

I agree there does seem to be a kind of ghoulish fascination with the death toll.

I think the focus should be on how many lives can be saved not how many have been lost (we know it's bad). There is a massive US aid / rescue operation underway. Just about the only fortunate thing going for those poor Haitians is there proximity to the US.

I believe there is going to be a disaster appeal launched today, I hope we can all give something, and I hope our government and the EU put their collective ‘shoulders to the wheel’ on this.

If any good can come out of catastrophe like this then maybe, just maybe this could be a watershed for the Haitian political situation, who knows?

There always is a human interest in death tolls from whatever the event, plane/train/car crashes, 9/11, earth quakes tsunami etc, the higher it goes the more shocking it is, I think we have an in built shock level and subcontiously we need to be shocked by these events and the death toll is the major factor in bringing out these emotions.

For as long as I can remember Death Toll has always been at the forefront of all media reporting on any major incident.

Maybe if you were there and saw the piles of dead people on the roads and had to cope with the smell as well as the dreadful damage, you might well be inclined to report on all that to get across just how bad the situation really is!

Les

A chap i know was in the UN building when it got squished :( I hope he is alive :(

Doom and gloom...we're all going to die...etc etc...been happening in the "media" since the late 19th century (And before of course, the blahbull etc). It sells!

I suggest anyone wanting to realise this "fall out" should go to Africa and/or India to get a taste of where "the west" is headed.

Personally after the way money was wasted and given away in the wake of the Tsunami I will not be giving a penny.

I read somewhere that there were about 30 strong aftershocks.

I have something in common with these folks - after 30 aftershocks I can't find my house either.

:)

I cannot see any way in which the rest of the world could just stand by and do nothing to help those poor people in Haiti.

Les

We should call on the French a bit here. Seen nothing from them.

and amusing (not) to hear high ranking clergymen trying to defend gods role in all this

but what about the Christian Aid bit then?

Les