Above Photo: (Photo: YURI CORTEZ, AFP/Getty Images)
While the extent of the damage exacted by Hurricane Matthew on Haiti is not yet known, more than 500 deaths have been reported. But with the storm moving toward the US, media too are moving, leaving in their wake the sorts of stories you would predict: “Fragile Haiti in the Line of Fire From Matthew” (USA Today, 10/3/16), “Impoverished Haiti Braces for ‘Catastrophic’ Floods as Hurricane Approaches” (Reuters, 10/4/16) and, from the New York Times(10/4/16), “A List of Previous Disasters in Haiti, a Land All Too Familiar With Hardship.”
It’s hard to wish for more of this sad, static storyline, even as research shows a relationship between the amount of media coverage a disaster receives and the generosity of the response in terms of aid. In a piece for Common Dreams (10/5/16), anthropologist Mark Schuller explained that the relatively high media profile of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake came at a price:
With stories of devastation appearing to many foreign observers as hell on earth, with phrases like “state failure” often repeated, foreign media coverage also naturalized foreign control of the response.
Media’s disaster narrative, Schuller noted, is influential—with all its messages about who’s a hero and whose efforts are ignored. He suggests journalists could find a new approach by listening to Haitian scholars, journalists and social movements, who would prefer support for Haitian-led initiatives, attention to root causes (including neoliberal policies enforced by the US) and the participation of local groups in identifying and prioritizing work to be done—over a dozen ostensibly sympathetic stories about poor Haiti and its beleaguered people.