To wonder why so many journalists are crawling all over Haiti and yet aid can't get through?

[Rhubarb]

They said the airport is clogged up with traffic, I fecking hope they aren't letting journalists through in favour of bloody aid.

There were lads from the Lancashire Fire Service there last night, they couldn't land at the airport because of airport traffic, then they tried again and got turned back again. Yet all these journos are there, filming all over the place.

Someone tell me why that is!

I've never gotten this either. How come they manage to get hacks + camera man + lighting man all over to disaster area, but can't get more people over to assist, aid workers and such? And do these hacks + entourage ever help out, or just film it?

Have often wondered this myself in these situations.

i know it enrages me
BBC, yes
water, no.....

I donated to medecins sans frontieres and beleive (hope) they will go there and do something practical asap, like medical care

But its worrying as even if you do donate how can you be sure they are doing anything?

It maddens me. I know we need to see what's going on, but you can't help but wonder if they are stopping aid from getting through. Imagine, the disaster is being covered by every country in the world, and if they are all sending their hacks out there to film human suffering and misery, is it any wonder the aid can't get through?

2 days later and still aid isn't getting through. People are dying.

These hacks should bloody well be taking aid with them and then freeing up the airports for the aid agencies to bloody well land their planes!

If I was a victim and a bloody camera shoved in my face I'd go nuts.

The BBC has journalists all over the world. And it's easier to get one person somewhere than a load of aid.

I note the BBC pronunciation unit (I assume) has decreed that they will say Port-au-Prince in the English way, not Port-au-Praaanz as it used to be.

Mutt, my point is that they are over-covering the story. Every journo and his dog have been sent over there.

Aid agency planes are being sent back because there is no room at the airport for them to land - why do you think that is? How do you the hacks are getting out there?

I suspect many of the journalists were already in the area, or surrounding areas. Journalists are often stationed all over the world.

And as already said, way easy to get one person in than a whole load plus equipment.

i don't think it is a case of either/or.

UnquietDad, the BBC journos have been flown over there. Not necessarily from the UK but from neighbouring countries. They've still been flown over there, the majority of them, because that's the easiest way into Haiti atm.

I don't give a shit how they pronounce the name, I just want all this aid to get through.

Also, it's not like they're actually doing that much work; most of the stuff I've seen on Sky and CNN is from twitter, from Haitian reporters who are there already.

Journos mostly have got there via Dominican Republic I think.

Planes carrying tonnes of supplies obviously cannot do this, as it's a long way.

Poor bloody Haitians

Have a look at the OP on this thread for an explanation.

Port-au-Prince airport is a tiny provincial strip. It's one thing to let in some flights carrying a few hundred journos, but another thing to sort out the logistics of refuelling, unloading, storing and distributing the contents of enormous cargo planes.

Of course it's an unutterably awful situation, but it seems there are horribly unavoidable reasons for the aid taking so long to get through.

They say there is real anger on the streets now. I don't bloody blame them.

the traffic is other aid, or aid-related stuff. It's not planes full of journalists.

Aid also has to be an organised affair, you can't just dump it on the tarmac and take off.

Once on the ground, you need to know what local vehicles you can use and what roads are safe to go on. Then where do you set up aid, etc.

I'm not pretending to be an expert on this, just stating a few basic principles.

AFAIK, journalists and their teams can leave at the drop of a hat, as everything is ready and waiting in case something like this happens, and will quite often be on the scene within hours of a disaster happening - also, there will already be correspondants already in the area.

Aid takes a lot of organising, and the situation needs to be assessed to know what the needs are, this takes time. Organising volunteers with the right skills necessary also takes time.

Sadly, the coverage is a vital part, as no-one would know the extent of the damage without the stories and pictures that are coming back, but it's awful that volunteers are being turned back

But last night, a plane load of Lancashire Fire Fighters were due to land. They tried twice. This was manpower, not cargo loads of supplies and they couldn't land.

What planes are the journos using? Their own? Cameras and sound equip take up room, room that could be filled with medicine and sheets.

I know it has to be filmed, but I think they've got more than enough journos over there now.

Remember that it isn't just the UK sending their hacks over there, but every country in the world. All trying to land at Haiti to cover the story.

Exactly Chandelina,

Obviously the biggest problem is that the agencies who would normally coordinate a situation like this have been so badly affected - UN, ONGs, government

the journos are not flying over on planes not containing anyone else you know. The today programme reporter flew in on a plane carrying volunteer firemen. They were subject to the same delays as anyone else, with the difference that unlike aid supplies, they can unload themselves and wander off to the affected zones under their own steam.

And Haiti will be desperate for press coverage to ensure aid and donations keeps flowing.

The journalists are (in their own way) providing a valuable service. It's an unfortunate truth that without public/press interest there would be precious little aid or charitable donations. The disasters least covered in the press are those which receive least aid.

Bill Clinton and his team are off there now. I bet he will have a huge amount of security and PA's with him. He's not going to swan in with one camera man is he?

Rhubarb I read yesterday that many journalists were flying to Santo Domingo and making the 9-hour journey overland.

But surely the priority at this very second, when people are dying under that rubble, is to get the specialist dog teams in to locate the living and try and save them from a horrific death. I can absolutely understand the logistics of field hospitals etc but NOTHING seems to be moving and there is no sense of priority. A nightmare for those people

Ok well the journalists seem to know where the badly affected areas are since they are filming there. They also have commandered a lot of vehicles to ferry themselves around. Plus - and this has annoyed me more than most - they have an opinion on how aid should be organised and where it should be going first.

Meglet, absolutely.

Yes manpower is what is needed most. There are people buried under that rubble, people still alive!

And for a 9 hour journey they all got there pretty damn fast.

Yes, and without the news coverage, the aid organisations wouldn't get the donations.

Grow up. Do you really imagine evil journos (loving the perjorative "crawling") are manhandling aid workers out of the queue at airports?

In many cases journalists go at the behest of aid organisations. And these days camera equipment takes up very little room indeed. As has previously been said, 1-2 people can get places a cargo of aid cannot.

Rhubarb - without the journalists to highlight the situation there would be no sense of urgency and no-one to convey the desperation of the people.

You only KNOW about the desperation on the streets because someone has bothered to get out there and send those criticisms back to the UK.

It's a desperate situation but criticising journalists for trying to draw attention to the delays in aid and the plight of the people is NOT the answer.