I've mostly stopped with the news now. The first day or so was okay, even useful, but yesterday it hit disaster porn/drum-up-a-story/replay status. Wake me when Bob Parker is giving another briefing.
That said, a huge amount of my time since Tuesday evening has been earthquake-involved, and some of that work has been in channels that gave access to better info than was going out on the media. I was disturbed and a little angry to hear news about a pocket with 15 survivors reported on RadioNZ and TV news long after it was clear that that wasn't the case. Rumours swirl through the retweets, resurfacing long after they've been discredited. I've also been a little grumpy at some of the tut-tutting from people far away and safe about their interpretations of behaviours on the ground.
Does it matter? Mostly probably not, I guess. It would bother me if USAR teams were being instructed to prioritise named, media-friendly sites where it's clear there are no more survivors over the many, many smaller buildings where people might really be trapped and still have a chance. I don't know if that's actually what's been happening, though, and I don't want to be a tut-tutter myself. :S
That said, a huge amount of my time since Tuesday evening has been earthquake-involved, and some of that work has been in channels that gave access to better info than was going out on the media. I was disturbed and a little angry to hear news about a pocket with 15 survivors reported on RadioNZ and TV news long after it was clear that that wasn't the case. Rumours swirl through the retweets, resurfacing long after they've been discredited. I've also been a little grumpy at some of the tut-tutting from people far away and safe about their interpretations of behaviours on the ground.
Does it matter? Mostly probably not, I guess. It would bother me if USAR teams were being instructed to prioritise named, media-friendly sites where it's clear there are no more survivors over the many, many smaller buildings where people might really be trapped and still have a chance. I don't know if that's actually what's been happening, though, and I don't want to be a tut-tutter myself. :S
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