Haiti earthquake: Dealing with disaster
The UN has described it as the worst disaster it has ever been involved in.
With an estimated 200,000 dead, a million and half displaced and an entire infrastructure flattened, it's not hard to see why earns that tragic description.
But what has it been like for broadcasters like the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service attempting to provide a "lifeline" service for those in Haiti? This is a situation where the normal principles of journalism are challenged because the role of broadcasters becomes more than just one of simply observing and documenting.
This has certainly been the experience of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Caribbean unit which is providing extra programming for audiences in Haiti, in different languages.
This week the unit's head, Debbie Ransome, tells Over To You how it has reacted to the events of the past ten days or so and how it has balanced the role of news gathering with a desire to ease the suffering. It has often been the case that a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ reporter has reached a devastated area before the aid agencies - so what then is the first responsibility of that individual? Listen if you can to this fascinating insight from Debbie on this week's programme.
Evacuees from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti wait to board a bus. Picture credit: Getty ImagesÌý
And still on Haiti, listener Francis Noel from Trinidad and Tobago contacted us to query the tone of some of the news reporting - in particular, references in the coverage to "looting" and "lawlessness" in the aftermath of the earthquake.
He is not alone - the head of the UN mission in Haiti, Edmond Mulet has been critical of the concentration on relatively few looting incidents, and described coverage of these as "exaggerated".
It all reminds me of the about the reporting of Hurricane Katrina, more than four years ago. "I hate the way they portray us in the media," he said. "If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family and they are looking for food."
We are planning to discuss the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s coverage of Haiti with a senior newsroom executive on a future programme, so if you have any thoughts or comments, make sure you let us have them.
History of the World
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And also in this week's programme, Over To You's producer, Cathy Packe, goes to the and takes a look behind the scenes of the making of a major new World Service series entitled "A History of the World in 100 Objects."Ìý
She told me how JD Hill, one of the senior curators involved in the programmes, gave her a piece of rock to hold.
It turned out to be a stone chopping tool, and was nearly two million years old - and as she inspected it more closely she could make out its multi-functional, albeit basic, design. And in the first programme in the series, presenter Neil McGregor uses a replica of it to carve his roast chicken!
Beat that Apple - I bet none of your fancy iPhone applications can do that!
Rajan Datar is the Presenter, Over To You
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service will start broadcasting a lifeline programme for Haiti, in Creole, on Saturday, 23rd January. It will be a daily, 20-minute long programme. Transmission time is 9:10 to 9:30 local time (14:10 to 14:30 GMT). The programme will be produced and edited by a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ team in Miami.
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Over To You is your chance to have your say about the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service and
its programmes. It airs at 10:40 and 23:40 every Saturday, and atÌý02:40 on Sunday (GMT).Ìý
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