http://www.commondreams.org/print/51917

Published on Thursday, January 21, 2010 by TomDispatch.com

Covering Haiti: When the Media Is the Disaster

by Rebecca Solnit

Soon after almost every disaster the crimes begin:  ruthless, selfish, indifferent to human suffering, and generating far more suffering. The perpetrators go unpunished and live to commit further crimes against humanity. They care less for human life than for property. They act without regard for consequences.

I'm talking, of course, about those members of the mass media whose misrepresentation of what goes on in disaster often abets and justifies a second wave of disaster.