Remember when much of the coverage of last year’s tsunami focused on the Victoria Secret’s model caught up in the waves rather than the 200,000 dead? And the ToI story which said the real tragedy of the Bombay cloudburst was that customers couldn’t get their ToI?
The Indo-Asian News Service throws its hat into the ring of vacuousness. Remember that in inverted pyramid style, the most salient fact comes first in the headline and lede. So here’s the most important fact about the destruction of New Orleans and the Louisiana, Missouri and Alabama coasts as reported by IANS and quoted in Abhi’s post:
Hurricane Katrina leaves US Congressman man Jindal homeless [Link]
You can contribute to the Red Cross relief effort here. Previous posts: one, two
“US Congressman…man Jindal”
Nice headline.
Well, a congressman is mildly relevant to the process of getting aid for his state, etc. But yeah, that’s silly.
While I agree that’s a totally vacuous headline, it is amusing coming from a Sepia Mutineer – home of ‘if it’s brown it leads’. Remember the posts on how many browns died in the London bombing?
Remember it? I wrote it. But they weren’t celebrities– ethnocentric, not starfucking.
I would’ve been interested in an IANS story about regular desis affected, because it would never be carried in the MSM. And so Abhi pointed us to Maitri’s posts on the hurricane. This is supposed to be ‘Indo-
AmericanAsian News Service,’ not Entertainment Tonight.I will have to kinda second MD here. The Link that you have leads to a hindustan times article – which is probably one of the stories it is featuring. Besides this one you have two other posts on Katrina, and one of which is almost exclusively on Jindal.
While I am a Sepia fan, and of your coverage, the pot calling the kettle black in another story.
Also isnt it Indo-Asian News service?
No, it’s an IANS wire story, not a HT story. That’s why Abhi quoted the exact same story in a different publication.
My critique is of a fixation on celebrities during natural disasters, not ethnocentricity.
My criticism applies equally where Abhi quotes this story about Jindal’s homelessness (sorry Abhi!) The other half (legislation to help Louisiana) is a legit news hook. So is Abhi’s original post.
Yep. Fortunately, I got it right in the post.
Fair enough. The point of my post however was not that Bobby Jindal was homeless but about the legislation he helped pass which affects everyone in the area. Thus the title of the post.
Do you know of Indian or brown orgs involved in relief efforts or gathering contributions towards relief for those devastated by the hurricane?
Oh, I was just yanking your chain, guys. Provocateur, that’s me.
Anyhoo, the BBC has stories about Brits caught up in the Hurricane, ABC (the Aussie one) the same and on and on an on. This could be considered in the same vein, as opposed to being a celebrity shout out.
I dunno about blogs specifically adressing browns helping out but I’m gonna link to Instapundit tommorrow – he’s collecting links from all over the blogosphere, left and right (championed by blogs of all spectrums, including skippy!). Basically, you post a charity you think is good and link back to his post and it will turn into this massive link-up as a sort of blog benefit.
Those poor people. And the people who were crushed in Baghdad, too. Awful.
It’s a bad headline, I’m with you on that, but ethnocentric, not starfucking… Isn’t the IANS picking one Indian out of the millions affected ethnocentric? They’re interested in him because he’s in power, in the state and above all things, Indian. They didn’t blurb him like a celebrity and my guess is that they, like most of us here, don’t have access to the regular people, including desis.
Regarding aid, right now everything seems to be going through and to the Red Cross, but I have heard that the NAACP and Urban League are considering a joint-fundraising effort to target parishes, wards and neighborhoods with high minority populations. So, no “brown” organizations, per se, but there is the ever-blue DNC which I believe is also discussing sponsored volunteer-teams for cleanup, etc..
“Over 50 people were killed after the storm inflicted catastrophic damage all along the coast as it slammed into Louisiana with 224 kph winds, then swept across Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.”
The above sentences are in the fourth paragraph of the story. IAN has totally lost the sense of prespective. TOI twins…
I was in Delhi when Bobby Jindal had won the Congress seat….the TV channels were showing the good people of Delhi dancing themselves crazy to celebrate his victory, and to my irritation everyone wanted to talk about him.
Robert Kennedy Jr blames Bush and Haley Barbour failure to sign the Kyoto treaty for the hurricane. Will we see the media condemnation that is routine when conservatives attribute the destruction of nature to the wrath of God.
Lost a sense of perspective????? what is wrong with that sentence? I dun ged it???
“Lost a sense of perspective????? what is wrong with that sentence? I dun ged it???”
Shouldn’t the loss of life and devastation due to Hurricane Katrina be the first or second line in the story rather mentioned later. That is what I meant.
Ok here is my take on it –> If this is the ONLY story on Katrina covered by IANS then you make a valid point. However, if IANS has multiple stories on Katrina, which have covered the travesty, and this story specifically happens to be focusing on Jindal, then its perfectly OK to have it in the latter part of the story.
Off-topic, but only just.
A Mumbai daily quizzed local college kids on why ‘Katrina’ has been in the news lately.
3 out of every 5 replies contained the phrase ‘Salman Khan’s girlfriend’. =)