Global Media in Disasters and Media Disasters: Alleged Looters in Haiti

This document from the Communication for Social Change Consortium (CFSC) discusses the damage done by media's repetition of images of looting during the immediate aftermath of a disaster. The author states that this practice "grossly exaggerates the size of the problem and feeds global audiences a story rife with stereotype." He points to how this "[m]edia criminalisation of the local population invokes ...memories of colonialism", which threatens to "transform a humanitarian crisis into a law-and-order crisis."

As stated here, the search for food and water in the aftermath of a crisis is sometimes exploited by law and order authorities in their effort to protect property rather than people. This can create fear among the media audience and fuel prejudice about economically poor people and people of developing countries. The stereotyping of a local population can set up a dynamic resulting in "anti-Western sentiments in ways detrimental to the good efforts of the Western public to help victims. Local people also sometimes exploit these sentiments to prevent accountability and transparency as well as positive international influence on the recovery process." This kind of dynamic can exacerbate militarisation and repression by governments and needless expense to aid organisations for extraneous security measures.

The author uses Haiti and Sri Lanka as examples of countries where poverty and internal conflict have taken many more lives than an earthquake or tsunami. He describes how the nature of these ongoing local conditions is under-reported and how reporting may are distort local reaction to the disaster. The unfamiliarity of the international press that arrives on the scene of a local disaster and the pressure and competition to produce news often result in their choice to report on chaos rather than "local strategies that communities quickly develop to cope with their physical and emotional needs....Moreover, reporting local response is not nearly so romantic (or easy) as focusing on huge international rescue efforts and fund-raising. This is a problem for disaster victims in the long run, because local strategies tend to be more sustainable and relevant than the cookie-cutter aid run by international disaster relief operations."

Though the author acknowledges the value of international disaster relief, he finds that local strategies and organisations which were working before, during, and after international relief organisation come and go continue to be underfunded and receive little or no media attention. In addition: "Stereotypic reporting of disaster in less-developed nations falls into the easy pattern of blaming locals for corruption and poor service delivery, while completely overlooking the fact that costs are high because humanitarian assistance has been privatised through sub-contracting to for-profit organizations, and service delivery is compromised by petty competition for territory among international aid organisations."

As stated here, post-disaster situations offer opportunities for change and for special interests to advance agendas. Exploitation can occur through relocating people or, for example, installing security and surveillance systems under the guise of protecting the public welfare. Where populations are in political conflict, "response to the humanitarian crisis is often dictated by national security imperatives. News that simplifies and sensationalises only obscures the complexity of post-disaster situations shaped by politically charged interests and agendas."

The author concludes that global media play an important role in post-disaster response. "Depending on how they cover the disaster, they can help or hinder relief efforts....responsible media should track and report the international community's progress on honouring its pledges of assistance. We must also demand sustained reports, rather than a media bail-out when the next interesting disaster appears on the horizon."