All Blog Posts from Public Eye

“Images of desperate victims have irked the government, already under fire for a slow response.” It reads like so many of the articles written about media coverage following Hurricane Katrina. But this line is the subhead of an article in today’s Christian Science Monitor, and the subject is not Katrina, but Pakistani television’s coverage of the aftermath of the country’s earthquake.

Pakistan's earthquake, while at once a story of national tragedy, is also the coming of age story of the country's fledgling private television channels. Their unflinching coverage of the disaster, beamed into millions of homes on a scale unseen in Pakistan's history, showcases an era of unparalleled media freedom and influence.

Only state-run television used to exist in Pakistan, until 1999, when the Musharraf administration distributed licenses to private television operators, part of an effort to “counteract Indian satellite television in Pakistan,” writes the Monitor. And the power and influence that the young Pakistani media is now enjoying bears much similarity to what some media-watchers viewed as a sort of re-birth of American media following coverage of Katrina. Much like coverage of the hurricane’s aftermath, the images broadcast by Pakistani media “are indelibly pressed into the national consciousness. …Their coverage, whether intended or not, has also pointed out the shortcomings of the government's response, particularly through clips that featured angry villagers lambasting the military.” It's an interesting look at how the media is evolving elsewhere in the world.

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The press has taken some flack recently for its coverage (or lack thereof) of the Pakistan earthquake -- some of it from Public Eye. And weeks later, as the death toll continues to rise and many are still left without relief, criticism continues to mount.



So we were pleased to hear that the new president of CBS News, Sean McManus, expressed an interest in the story when he sat in on an editorial meeting the week before last. We were also pleased to see that last night’s “Evening News” had broached the topic, following up on the aftermath of the earthquake one month later with a piece by Mark Phillips, who followed a mule train through the mountains of Sat Bani as Pakistani relief workers attempted to reach those who are otherwise inaccessible.



You can watch the piece below:

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On October 8th, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit South Asia. It is "believed to have killed at least 79,000 people, mostly in Pakistan's portion of Kashmir, and to have destroyed the homes of more than 3 million people," according to the Associated Press.



Compared to some other recent tragedies – and there's no question that we've seen a number in the past year – the South Asia quake has not gotten much attention. During the week of Oct. 10-14, according to analyst Andrew Tyndall, the quake was the most covered story on the nightly newscasts, but the following week, it slipped to #7 – behind Hurricanes Wilma and Katrina, Iraq, the CIA leak case, Harriet Miers, and avian flu. The Southeast Asia tsunami, which killed more than 230,000 people at the end of last year, remained a top story for weeks. Hurricane Katrina and the other hurricanes also dominated news coverage for a long period. But despite the fact that "the aftermath of the Pakistan earthquake…is worse than the tsunami last year," according to the United Nations, it seems many Westerners have forgotten the quake. Not suprisingly, "donations for victims of the recent earthquake in Pakistan and India have not come close to the giving for the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina," according to United Press International.



The situation led Umair A. Khan, writing in Chowk, to observe, "beyond Pakistan's national news media, [media] coverage is a silent movie playing out on inside pages (if at all)." As the death toll rises and many of the homeless are endangered by the impending winter, he implores people to literally scream in order to bring attention to the situation. "And when others…see and hear this, and ask if you are feeling alright, tell them about the earthquake: about the helicopters, the tents, the winter, the 100,000 dead, the 100,000 to save, the 3 million homeless, the injured, the amputated, the NATO refusal, the silent media."

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There’s only so much time in a 30-minute broadcast for all the news that happens each day and only so many stories a 24-hour cable channel can on the air or that big newspapers can pay attention to. Okay, so there is a lot of space out there for stories that don’t make the national news agenda. But just because you might not be seeing it or hearing about it doesn’t mean other news isn’t happening.



Sometimes it takes days for an important story to work its way from the local level, through state and regional press and to the national level – if it ever does. It’s a big country and an even bigger world and one of the things we’re going to try to do for you from time to time is help keep you informed with some of the stories that are not being covered by the bigger outlets but that deserve some attention nonetheless.



It’s gotten a little notice but not as much as the ongoing San Francisco Chronicle series should be receiving. The series of reports on the probability and preparations for a major earthquake in the Bay area is eerily reminiscent of a similar series the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran about possible hurricane damage way back in 2002. In more uplifting news, the Columbia (SC) State details a remarkably smooth operation in that town in dealing with an influx of Katrina evacuees.



The St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes the surge in scooter sales in response to higher gas prices. The Hartford Courant profiles a local leader of next month’s planned Millions More march, a follow-up to 1995’s Million Man march.



The Los Angeles Times previews the next generation of parking meters being rolled out in some CA locals – and possibly soon to a busy street near you. The Orlando Sentinel has a special interest in NASA’s Monday announcement of its plan to return to the moon with manned spaceflight – and then on to Mars. It's a story that received coverage elsewhere, but has special significance to people in that area.



And the Seattle Post-Intelligencer tells us how a Microsoft benefit helped almost 800 employees to lose 26,000 pounds.

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