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But don't believe the violence hype just yet.
Yes, some of the scenes confirm reports of unruly mobs of young men brawling and grabbing at food and water. But the majority of the video footage I have seen from the island thus far has shown people working together in an amazingly orderly fashion to rescue the rubble-trapped and distribute supplies.
I would suggest caution before accepting as fact reports of violent lawlessness in Haiti.
Like it or not, video footage of looting and violence draws viewers like moths to a flame. And those images mean increased advertising revenue to news outlets. In local news coverage, this phenomenon is summed up by the saying, "If it bleeds, it leads."
This is the only explanation I can come up with for much of the reporting on Haiti I've seen.
Some television talking heads seem almost giddy at the prospect of lawlessness and looting by roving gangs on the island, but just remember the reporting around Hurricane Katrina for a recent example of the violent hype exceeding the truth.
Remember the initial reports from the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans? News reporters and city officials told us that more than 200 people were murdered, children were being tossed from the upper levels and women were being raped throughout the facility.
The only problem was that the reports weren't true. Six people died at the Superdome -- and none of them were murdered.
Reality in Haiti is tough enough right now. We don't need exaggerated reports of violence making things worse.
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By: Tired of Poor ME attitude on 1/19/2010 2:35PM
And I suppose we should not pay attention to the LOOTING HYPE either. Rioting and looting has broken out as the films indicate. Before the Earthquake, Haiti was a high crime country as this United Nations report said.
"The rising crime rate in Haiti is restricting humanitarian aid distribution in the troubled Caribbean country, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.
Kidnapping has increased, while cars are stopped and the people inside them robbed, OCHA spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs told a news briefing in Geneva.
The police force was still understaffed and had few weapons, while some 25,000 people in the country were estimated to own small arms and other weapons, she said.
The supply of water and electricity were also serious problems, Ms. Byrs said.
The insurgency in February and March had caused enormous damage to the water supply sector, including sabotage of installations, looting of premises and theft of spare parts and vehicles. As a result, the water supply had fallen to 75 per cent of what it was before, but the humanitarian agencies were working to improve this, she said."
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