The Oh So Proverbial Media Earthquake

As we first learned about the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that rattled through Japan on March 11, we all watched, our heads glued to the computers and television screens, hovering over them like hawks. Just on their own, the words "earthquake" and "tsunami" automatically triggered widespread memories of the disaster zones in Indonesia and Haiti. And the word “nuclear!” In itself, the idea of graphic explosions and apocalypses has always just been something for a day at the movies. But to actually watch it all unfold? Pure news gold. And here’s the best part—you don’t even need to put on any pants to watch the glory and adventure jump at you! Let me emphasize—NO PANTS!

Don’t get me wrong. This literally world-changing earthquake, one responsible for shifting Earth’s axis by four inches, is responsible for killing thousands of people, injuring thousands more, and leaving even more homeless, poverty-stricken, and with little place to turn. Many crucial services, such as those for providing electricity and mass transportation to millions, have been left decentralized and useless. Help is needed, and it will continue to be needed for quite some time in order to ensure that the people of Japan can get their lives back on track. (How to Help: Japanese Red Cross, American Red Cross)

But to watch today’s news broadcasts, and those of the past two weeks, is to recognize the ongoing role of speculation in the media.

"If you are only following the way Western media is reporting on the current situation in Japan regarding the earthquake, one might get the impression that the entire Japan is collapsing, or melting down, or falling,” Eiko Doden, senior commentator for Japanese broadcast network NHK, told Channel News Asia. "But that is not the reality."

Whether the reason for such sheer journalistic irresponsibility is out of pure stupidity or out of desperation to grab the attention of average viewers, many of whom are content on switching to that "According To Jim" rerun if they don’t see Fox News or CNN reporting live from Armageddon, is unclear. And at this stage in our media game, it doesn’t matter. Regardless, news outlets are turning the act of speculation into news, skipping out on fact-checking for the purpose of glorifying the pedestals on which they stand.

The issue has become so prominent that Japanese residents and keen American news viewers have created a "Journalist Wall of Shame" webpage within their online forum, JPQuake, to point out acts of careless reporting in regards to the disaster. Such journalistic violations, as discussed in the forum, include a report from Mike Hedge of the Australian Associated Press that calls Japanese citizens "oblivious" to the ongoing dangers of their situation (click here to see report). Also, in related news, The Daily Mail ran a story entitled "UN Predicts Nuclear Plume Could Hit U.S. by Friday" (click here to see report). Clearly, you can be the judge of that.

"Undoubtedly, it's not in anyone's interest to see exaggerated reporting during a situation of this severity, where the cost of public panic is so high,” said Leo Lewis, a correspondent for The Times of London who has spent considerable time covering Japan both before and after the earthquake. “But that same severity should also not forgive a lack of vigilance," he said.

While it’s true what they say about variety being the spice of life, next to the salt and pepper shakers, there needs to be some sort of consensus made between the media and the viewer. Past flaws related to coverage of this crisis, among other similar stories, must be acknowledged, and citizens must come together to finally formulate and support a way of rebuilding honest, well-angled reporting. Perhaps the "Journalist Wall of Shame" is a step in the right direction, but everyday followers of the media, especially those who are able to prioritize their news coverage, need to be consistent and fight for quality and representation, even if no one else will.

New Kids on the Blog

The Rise of News Media Rockstars

Many of us know the feeling. Whether they were the Biff Tannens of the world or simply the cafeteria bullies fighting to grab quarters, dollar bills, and dignity from the George McFlys, the shy kids and the Trekkies, we’ve all seen it before. And in this televised, jumbled jungle of news, infotainment, and flat-out media flatulence, things are far from different.

Thankfully enough, Al Jazeera didn’t need Doc Brown to help them find their moment in the sun.

Just a few years ago, in the aftermath of 9/11 and amidst wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Qatar-based news network, founded in 1996, and its reporters faced consistent dosages of bomb threats, missile attacks, imprisonment, and suspicions that their reports of street-level citizen protests were spreading anti-American sentiment. Accordingly, U.S. forces held Sami al-Hajj, an Al Jazeera cameraman, hostage for six years under accusations of terrorism and associations with propaganda. Past Western attacks against the network include an artillery fire that destroyed their Kabul bureau and an attack against their offices in Baghdad that killed a correspondent..

In addition,White House transcripts from an April 2004 meeting show then-President Bush plotting to bomb the network's headquarters. However, then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair successfully talked him out of it.

The fact that the news network's English-language channel, Al Jazeera English, has seldom been broadcast over the airwaves of American cable and satellite networks only led to less Western exposure and more assumptions.

Prior to this year’s revolutions throughout the Middle East, the output of news from these regions was primarily controlled by state government interests, which were typically infused with propaganda that often denounced protests and their participants.

But what exactly has changed?

With the growth of citizen journalism and the ever-increasing capabilities of smartphones, blogging, and Twitter, word of protest has become more directly accessible to the public from its citizens, even in spite of attempted shutdowns. And as such, ideological unity has become more of a reality.

Hoping to ride the wave of social media, Al Jazeera has developed a Twitter dashboard that tracks Tweets mentioning or relating to Middle Eastern nations such as Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain. In addition, the network has created a mobile phone app that provides users with a 24-hour stream of their newscasts.

As Al Jazeera continues to bridge the gaps between fights for independence, people around the world, from media analysts to everyday news followers, have begun recognizing the news outlet's power in setting the foundations for citizen involvement, a capability that many Americans often take for granted.

Since the rise of the protests in Egypt, online viewership of Al Jazeera English increased by a staggering 2500 percent, with half of new viewers coming from the United States. As such, there have been more efforts to include the channel in cable television lineups, alongside networks such as MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN, who similarly rose to prominence as a result of the Persian Gulf War.

"Now I feel like I work for the cool kids!," wrote Jane Dutton, a correspondent for Al Jazeera English who admits to having been accused of being a representative for terrorists, on the network website. "A group of Americans I get chatting to in a phone shop recognize me from my reporting in Cairo during the Egypt uprising. When they left, they thanked me for the impact our work has had on the world."

It's the ultimate story of grabbing the news, holding it up, and showing the bullies who's boss. Dare we forget the great words of Doc: "Go forth time travelers, and remember the future is what you make it!"

Al Jazeera English Website: http://english.aljazeera.net/

Twitter Page: http://twitter.com/ajenglish

Jane Dutton's Blog: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/profile/jane-dutton

WINNING!: The American Revolu-Sheen

It's a battle for the ages. Each major network, with their flags and flags of logos and their camo suits strapping bombs to their chests. Middlemen who haven't already been dragged in as hostages are scrambling desperately for cover. In this ring of fire, where faces are melting and children are weeping all over their parents' bodies, we have yet to see an escape plan.

During the past few weeks, viewers from across the globe have kept their eyes keenly on shows like Good Morning America, Today, 20/20, and Piers Morgan Tonight, where Sheen has slowly created a religion of, for, and by himself, filled endlessly with a 21st-century Bible worth of prophecies. Such phrases, broadcast and repeated by each sect in dear worship of the deity, include:

• "I was bangin' seven-gram rocks and finishing them because that's how I roll, because I have one speed, one gear. ... I have a different constitution, I have a different brain, I have a different heart. I got tiger blood, man." - (20/20)
• "My brain….fires in a way that is — I don’t know, maybe not from this particular terrestrial realm." - (Good Morning America)
• "I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars." - (Dateline NBC)

The saga began earlier last month, when ratings-hungry Philadelphia radio station Wired 96.5 flew a plane featuring the message, "Call us 4 yr next role," over his home.

"You guys are radicals! You hatched this brainstorm like the Vatican assassins that you are, and so figured that if we fly it over his house, he has to call us," he told the station.

Since then, Sheen's radio and television appearances have exploded into the mainstream outlets, themselves becoming tools for promotion. After weeks of insulting his bosses and embarking on worldwide rants regarding issues such as his past drug use and his current porn star menage a trois, each network and program is trying to claim authority over the other.

In the primary news media, this is nothing new. However, the ways in which the networks are turning Sheen's personal crisis into a simultaneous parade and war has led the way for corporate culture and entities to control the service medium of news.

"Major news outlets, led by ABC and NBC, have been relentless in recent days in aiding and abetting the epic meltdown of a celebrity who happens to be the biggest star on the biggest comedy hit at rival CBS." said Los Angeles Times columnist James Rainey.

In this vein, the correspondents have become the soldiers, each fighting on their own fields and bombing the airwaves with their own interpretations of the world's most famous new psalms. Instead of searching for clues and investigating the heart of this personal psychological meltdown, each bit of news (if one can even call it news) is being dropped and smothered onto the public. As it slowly becomes a novelty act and a corporate war, the people of this information generation have nowhere safe to turn.

It's almost enough to get up off of your living room couch, grab your knapsack, and move to Mars.