By Al Giordano and Joaquín Nezua Herrera
(Many thanks to 2010 School of Authentic Journalism scholar Joaquín Nezua Herrera, who put up the subtitles so that English speakers can get this unique ground level view of post-earthquake Port au Prince...)
Update: In contrast, CNN and the English language networks have largely been doing a dreadful job covering the crisis and recovery in Haiti. Ansel Herz offers an informed critique via his blog, Mediahacker: Tell CNN to Stop Hyping Fears of Violence in Haiti. Here's a screen shot of the kind of yellow journalism being practiced by CNN this week:
It occurred to me this morning that this is the first time since the dawn of cable news that during a big international story that I don't have CNN or the other TV news networks turned on as I go about my day. The shift has already happened in which the Internet reporting has surpassed what poses as journalism on the big networks, and any video clip they broadcast that does turn out to add to the story quickly gets posted to the Internet anyway. TV news - at least in English - is now officially dead. And unless it radically changes its way of doing things, it is only a matter of time before the public reaches the same conclusion. Rest in pixels.
Update II: Here is an audio-visual presentation by BrownManThinkingHard, courtesy of Baratunde Thurston:
It tells the back story of Haiti's history and its relationship with US history. Did you know, for example, that the Haitian revolution that won independence from France directly led to the Louisiana Purchase and expansion of US territory? That, and other important context to understand current events in Haiti can be seen and heard by clicking "play."
