No lives are worth more than another. No matter the cruciality of debates can the dignity of any lives be lessened.
The Americans =
- Hurricane Harvey death toll at 70 (as of 7th September 2017) | Hurricane Irma death toll at 23 (as of 9th September 2017) with Hurricane Jose imminent.
- Education System: 200 Houston Schools damaged.
- Health Concerns: Potential polluted air, contaminated waters, and ‘mosquitoes’. Masks are available at supply stores, and affected cases are few in numbers.
- Environmental Concerns: Toxic/Hazardous Waste Sites located within flood-zone. Measures have been, and are being, taken to secure sites.
- Infrastructure: Safe structures built in safe grounds with robust materials.
- Key Samaritans: The UK Government pledged to double public donations made with the British Red Cross for victims of Hurricane Irma (at 13.00pm on 09/09/17). | The British Army and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary delivering aid directly in The Caribbean.| Facebook, Google, Coca-Cola, HCA Healthcare UK (amongst non-global US companies) have each pledged between $1-10million. | Corporate Giants (including employee donation programmes) pledged $65million.
South Asia =
- Flooding and Monsoon rains death toll at 1400 across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh (as of 09/09/17).
- Education System: 18,000 Schools destroyed across the three countries.
- Health Concerns: 13,000 people caught respiratory infections and sick with diarrhea in Bangladesh. 66,000+ cases of illnesses reported in Nepal. 17 million children in dire need of basic nutrition in India.
- Environmental Concerns: Hectares of Crops in its Millions Obliterated across South Asia. Large areas of land submerged causing difficulty for aid access.
- Infrastructure: Shelters, houses, businesses, hospitals are all built in weak soils and/or with weak materials.
- Key Samaritans: Scottish Government donates £300,000 from emergency fund (09/09/17). | The EU provided €200,000. | UN Humanitarian Agencies bring in water, food, shelter, and medical supplies. | The UK Department for International Development allocated £400,000 to the Nepal Red Cross Society and assistance in Bangladesh. | Facebook and Google pledged $1million each towards relief efforts across South Asia.
You are starting to understand now. Some of those are information that you already knew, some you did not. The information that you did not know have a theme running: South Asia. It is not your fault. It is the fault of the mere-basic-titles, and thus lack of, coverage by the media on South Asia. There is a positive correlation between media coverage and public perception (perception has more subconscious tendancies than opinion imo (and that was a conscious opinion)). With or without a study link you would know this anyway – what era is a better era than the 21st Century to witness this correlation; a century dominated by technology with independent-conscience running in second to that. Here are a few that escaped:
The contrast between the coverage of floods in Texas and floods in South Asia is stark. – Lynne Edwards, New Quay, Ceredigon.
Can we assume that the UK media values an American life at 80 times that of an Asian one? – Peter Williams, Heaton Moor, Stockport.
America is a rich country and will cope, despite inept leadership. Or are we saying that American lives are worth more? – Susan Howe, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire.
So it is clear. More coverage on the American natural disasters and a few odd ones here and there of the South Asian natural disasters. Yet, it is not just the lack of coverage in comparison. It is also the kind of coverage in comparison. While reading through numerous articles across various media platforms one crucial aspect stood out to me: the tone of articulation. The writing styles differed. The articles, live reports, and TV coverings emphasised more information about the natural disaster whether it be the hurricane’s name, its mph calculation, or characterisation of the hurricane:
“Winds of up to 160mph smashed into Cuba’s northern coast. Irma (notice the absence of ‘Hurricane‘) has now been downgraded to a Category 3, but is forecast to restrengthen.” – Independent.
‘Demolished by Irma, Barbuda braces for Hurricane Jose’ – CNN.
‘Hurricane Harvey likely to be one of the costliest natural disasters on record for the US economy.’ – Business Insider.
Compare this with the tone of articulation for the South Asian floods:
‘South Asia floods kill 1200 and shut 1.8 million children out of school’ – The Guardian.
‘South Asia floods: Estimated 40 million across India, Bangladesh, Nepal affected’ – ABC.
‘Floods devastate South Asian countries (…) The wet monsoons normally bring some flooding.’ – Workers.
‘They Thought the Monsoons Were Calm. Then Came the Deadly Floods.’ – NY Times.
‘Indian floods: Families devastated after unprecedented monsoon season. (…) The crisis has had relatively little worldwide coverage, with news organisations more focused on hurricanes on the other side of the world. But both are linked to changing weather patterns due to climate change that are expected to drive more extreme weather in the years to come.’ – ITV.
What does this matter? The tone of articulation when we read the news of the South Asian floods is that of distance. Something is happening somewhere so someone should (not need) do something somehow. Workers above, and they are not the only ones, even implanted the (missguided) recognition of normality. That flooding during monsoon seasons are a normal occurrence whereby this time it seemed to have surpassed the expectations, expectations which should have been revisited and taken measures for (so they are essentially asking whose fault is it for not seeing this coming). ITV even stated about the lack of coverage on the South Asian floods yet its coverage itself was minimal with this statement taking up a quarter of the article! Gosh!
The coverage of the U.S. hurricanes – and that too on a concentrated level – elicits intimacy and the eventual condition of familiarity from its audience. Intimacy because the hurricanes were identified by their names – literally. Had I read that Irma had been downgraded to category 3 on its own I would have thought of a prison inmate being shifted to a prison cell with a tin bucket for a toilet. Constant use of adjectives like ‘smash’, ‘restrengthen’, ‘demolish’ etc paints a picture in our minds of the hurricane without needing to actually be there physically. The eventual condition of familiarity installs a strong and sharp illustration in ours minds. So when we see only the words ‘Hurricane *name*’ we see it automatically as a dangerous phenomenon without the necessity for accompanying adjectives or description. What illustration comes to your mind when I say South Asian floods?
Okay. But what impact does this have on our perceptions? Perhaps, more compassion towards one over the other? Debatable. More coverage interest of the masses of one over the other? Most certainly. IRIN reported after quantifying data that the U.S. media’s coverage of the hurricanes is at 160 times more than that of the Asian floods. Non-U.S. media’s coverage of the hurricanes overtook its satisfactory coverage of the Asian floods at about the same time as the U.S. media started its intense coverage of the hurricanes. Some say the U.S. has every right to prioritise its home disasters. Well, yes but when you are determined to possess the global limelight you ought to do that and more. European media coverage of topics usually aligns itself with the issues the U.S. is covering, owing to as I stated before: matrix of influence. The rest of the World? An aggravated victim. What about the a perception of duty to act for one over the other? GlobalGiving which is fundraising money for both cases has seen $12,000 being raised for the South Asian flood organisations whereas for the Harvey Fund alone it raised $1.69 million. So yes, it seems like it.
Although, this still does not answer the ‘why’ of there being more coverage of one over the other in the first place. Do there exists perceptions prior to these collateral post-coverage perceptions?
Economy: The first connection that flashed before me as I researched was the economic damage that a hurting America would unleash globally. Market Watch have reported that the shut down of ports and refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast (Houston, Texas, Mexico etc) contributed to the shortfall of fuel in Europe as well as the increase in diesel prices. Yet, on the flip-side of business opportunity, Europe has been negotiating and taking bookings from the U.S. to ship gasoline. Financial Times states this led to tanker earnings soaring six-fold in a day ($3500:$20,000). We all know how globally connected the oil industry is, and the influence this will have on markets across capitals of the World. Read this article by Bloomberg on American GDP and inflation for a more illustrative idea on the global matrix of influence. In contrast, the floods of South Asia affects no other countries or economies other than their own.
Celebrities: Another flashing connection was globally known U.S. celebrities getting involved. Come on, who would not write the same exact article covering the impact of the hurricane as it already has been done so by almost every media platforms to tell your audience that you know who BEYONCE is?! Here are Beyonce’s biggest fans:
– BBC: ‘Beyonce launches Hurricane Harvey fundraising plans’ That too with a picture of Beyonce singing, not a picture of Beyonce with the hurricane victims (which there are many).
– Independent: ‘Hurricane Harvey: Beyonce pledges to help victims affected Houston floods‘ This writer really wanted to publish this article before anyone else did that they even forgot how to grammar.
Other celebrities:
– HuffPost: ‘Beyonce, The Kardashians, and Sandra Bullock Lead Stars Donating‘
– BBC: ‘DiCaprio, Bullock, Hart and more dig deep‘ $1million donated by Leonardo DiCaprio and Sandra Bullock towards Hurricane victims.
– The Jakarta Post (Oh, Indonesia): ‘Miley Cyrus latest celebrity to donate to Harvey relief‘.
And for South Asia? It is either my incompetency to research or the even more unfortunate news of there being nothing. No celebrity donations or fundraising initiatives reported within South Asian or non-South Asian celebrities towards the South Asian natural disasters by any major media platforms.
Symbolism: Also known as Instrumental Value. The gesture of an act is what overrides the act itself. Let us be honest, does America really need the British troops to personally hand-deliver aid? Nepal really does. Not America.They know this. The thought and the personal gesture stands as a political statement by the U.K. to the U.S. that the U.K. will, despite any recent disagreements which they have had e.g. Climate Change/Russian Affairs, stand by the U.S. in times of its needs. The press will pick up on this yet not directly report it as ‘only for symbolic purposes and not because you really need this aid’. The mainstream press do not report reality or meanings, rather they report motions. And these political and economic motions are recurring more often with America than any other country. U.K. and U.S. have always politically been best friends. But what about the rest of the world whose coverage on America proliferates more than reports of their own issues?* The US is like the Godfather for the political and economic world. Whatever goes on in that country does not stay in that country because it affects everyone – including Trump’s Florida resorts it seems: ‘How Hurricanes and sea-level rise threaten Trump’s Florida resorts’ (The Guardian) (Prayers have been answered).
The global symbolic limelight that America possesses is unmatched by South Asia when it comes to political and economical power cards.
We still have a problem. We now have an idea of why there is a concentration of coverage on one over the other. We have explored how this builds the perception of the audience. Yet, the question now follows as to why there has not been much resistance to this from any angle?
I believe that that answer resides within South Asia itself. *The website of Times of India do not have any news reporting the South Asian disasters on their main page, but instead have Hurricane Irma as their first left-eye trick catching post. The same of Hindustan Times and other major media platforms. Are they tired of the same news that regularly occurs on their continent year after year seeing as though South Asia has seen floods for the past couple of years. Where are the big Bollywood stars? Or large Indian corporations? Could it be some sort of general unspoken consensus throughout South Asia as to the cause of the disastrous effects. You see, a natural disaster happening is up to Mother Nature. Being prepared pre- and post- floods by procedures and measures is up to the governments and large corporations. Corruption is the single core reason why South Asia is not developed as optimally as they can be with the amount of external aid/donations they receive (amongst other internal growth e.g. education output and economic growth). Could it be that the Western media sense this and choose not to interfere (unlike their governments) or aggravate the situation leading to the blame-game. It could be a combination of these reasons and those explored above. Whatever the reasons, implicit or explicit, none are helping the people of South Asia.
Lessons: True. The media does have the stage when it comes to showcasing issues and deciding how much coverage should go depending on the topic. But the switch for the lights and the rope for the theatre curtains are in the palms of the people. Maybe it is not your fault, but maybe it is your choice. You decide.
Quantum. 