A free media?

I have been reading and watching, as a lot of people have, the coverage of the Bushfires here in Victoria over the past four days. I have seen the tremendous work of some media outlets in providing relevant information that has relieved the pressure on the official CFA and DSE websites.

But I have also paused to reflect on the role of the media, both on the lives of the victims of this tragedy and on the lives of those outside of the direct path of the Bushfires. We are a generation that is now expectant of our media outlets to provide us with wall to wall coverage of a major event. We expect to see the devastation and hear the stories of both miracle survivals and painful loss. We want to feel close to the news. But we also want to be separate from it. The media does not show the charred bodies of wildlife clogging the roads. It does not show us the devastating effects of burns on human skin. It can not show us the ongoing psychological scars of people who have had to make split second life and death decisions.

The media coverage that we expect is intrusive upon those who have already suffered so much. Speaking to someone working at a relief centre, she recounted how the media would surround people who had broken down under the emotional strain of their experience. For her to offer them physical comfort only made the 'shot' more photogenic.

I came across this great interview with a Kinglake resident. He summed up the role of the commercial media thus, "all the commercial television stations, radio stations use some of your advertising money to get helicopters to drop off supplies, You're making good money out of this sad story. Kinglake is stronger than you will ever be."

The wall to wall media coverage of this tragedy has challenged many Victorians to offer assistance. Victorians are opening their wallets in response to what they see on the television and read in the papers. There can be no doubt that this assistance is required. This crisis has highlighted the need for emergency crisis housing. There are not enough crisis housing properties in Victoria but this is never highlighted on the nightly news.

Perhaps it takes a crisis to draw Victorians together precisely because it is in crisis that the media shows us how much we are all alike and how much we need each other. We shouldn't have to wait for the crisis! We shouldn't have to wait for the media! Donate blood. Give real money to charities. These should not be one off responses to the media highlighting a crisis. These should be our standard response.

What I read today:

How romatic comedies ruin your life

Anglicanism may not be coherent enough to fracture