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The Smells of Haiti

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 11:34:39 AM EST
Tags: Haiti (all tags)
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The reporters in Haiti look pretty good. Props to them, considering the conditions they are enduring. I thought I saw Anderson Cooper, at one point last night during his report from the prison pointing out the dead bodies, turn his back to camera and shake as if he was gagging. Then I dismissed it as being my imagination. After reading this, I'm not so sure.

Update: Extra props to CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta who was the only doctor to stay overnight treating the injured at a hospital last night. The others left when ordered to for security reasons. They returned this morning.

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    The Smells of Haiti | 18 comments (18 topical)

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    He doesn't know what the dogs are eating? (none / 0) (#1)
    by Jen M on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 12:19:26 PM EST
    I hope no one tells him.

    he said he suspects garbage (none / 0) (#2)
    by Jeralyn on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 12:23:18 PM EST
    I haven't seen any reports of something worse...yet.

    Parent
    The MSM isn't going to show (none / 0) (#3)
    by SOS on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 12:36:19 PM EST
    gangs running wild through the streets, ransacking shops and fighting over food with machetes.

    Viewed (none / 0) (#4)
    by waldenpond on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 12:45:16 PM EST
    I have seen all you mentioned on MSM.  Are you being sarcastic?  I keep hearing that the desperation will bring out stress in many more and the stress will get worse before it gets better.  They have discussed that the opportunists are already out.  Another 10,000 US military are being sent to secure supply routes.

    Parent
    Showing and mentioning (none / 0) (#5)
    by Cream City on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 12:56:44 PM EST
    are different.  The reporters consistently are saying that they are describing what they witness but are not showing.

    Parent
    They are showing (none / 0) (#6)
    by waldenpond on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 01:04:38 PM EST
    the stress.  I have seen the tapes of the gangs, a person they shot laying in the street, the young men with the machetes, the men shoving each other and the relief truck driving off, the bodies, Cooper repulsed by the smell at the mass grave, etc.  The stress is being shown in great detail and I am sure the increase will be shown.

    Parent
    Something I have noticed (none / 0) (#8)
    by Cream City on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 01:23:58 PM EST
    repeatedly is that Cooper is stuttering.  A lot.  A sign of stress and of searching for words to somehow communicate the horrors he has seen but within media constraints.

    (Also noted his sunburn by last night.  So no makeup for a teevee anchor!)

    Parent

    But to your point, yes (none / 0) (#9)
    by Cream City on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 01:26:06 PM EST
    they are showing bodies in the streets, in mass graves, etc., although with cautions to viewers -- Cooper is especially careful about that.  I also saw video of the pushing and shoving.

    However, and I have been watching a lot, I have not seen the men with machetes, per the initial comment.  Per yours, I will be watching even more for said machetes, waved right in front of cameras.

    Parent

    I saw the machetes (none / 0) (#7)
    by nycstray on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 01:12:18 PM EST
    very scary looking.

    Parent
    Steve Harrigan on Fox (none / 0) (#10)
    by gyrfalcon on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 01:27:00 PM EST
    at one point had to step away from the camera during a live interview with Shep Smith to regain his composure.

    Sanjay and the Belgian docs (none / 0) (#11)
    by gyrfalcon on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 01:30:30 PM EST
    The incident with the Belgian medical team walking away -- with their equpment and medical supplies -- from their patients in the field hospital and leaving Sanjay Gupta and a CNN camera crew to tend to them alone all night is absolutely stunning.

    CNN needs to get Anderson Cooper or somebody else with some reporting chops to confront these docs and their leader on camera and find out what the heck happened and why not a single one of them was willing to stay and help a television crew, for crying out loud, to care for these people.  Absolutely unbelievable.

    BTW, it wasn't even (none / 0) (#12)
    by gyrfalcon on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 01:31:12 PM EST
    a real hospital, it was a "field hospital" thrown up hastily, not much more than a big tent.

    Parent
    It was stunning; I had to watch twice (none / 0) (#14)
    by Cream City on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 01:51:20 PM EST
    and Gupta's eyes were so wide that he looked like he was in shock.  

    New report just up from another reporter at another quickly created "hospital" in a warehouse, where the UN again is telling the staff they have to leave, because it does not meet requirements for a hospital.  Heck, the actual hospitals there don't meet those requirements now!  Staff were told to transfer all patients to field hospitals.  So they tried last night, somehow finding a way to get many patients driven to one -- where they were turned away, because it was overwhelmed.  So the staff had to drive the patients back to the warehouse.

    That drive not only further jeopardized those patients, as well as others with the staff gone, but also used up a lot of precious gasoline.

    Somebody has to ask the UN some serious questions.  Perhaps its envoy to Haiti, Bill Clinton, is having some of those questions asked right now by our Secretary of State?  I read that a major purpose for her meeting was to get Haiti's officials to cooperate more, as they have been so unwilling to give up control of what they are incapable of controlling now, anyway.  Sounds like the UN may be pulling the same power play.

    Parent

    This is exactly (none / 0) (#16)
    by dissenter on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 06:06:20 PM EST
    why many of us that work in the aid world constantly complain. The UN is a total joke. It doesn't protect people. It doesn't help people. It simply steals money and for everyone thinking that they should donate to the world food program - DON'T DO IT. Give your donation to any other charity first. The WFP has one of the most dismal records of all.

    Parent
    Sorry to throw any cold (none / 0) (#17)
    by gyrfalcon on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 10:01:55 PM EST
    water on your anti-U.N. rant, but the leader of the Belgian medical team just fessed up and said he'd made the decision to pull them out and it had nothing to do with the U.N.

    Apparently, he heard a couple of gunshots in the distance and panicked.

    Parent

    Wasn't even pointing to that event (none / 0) (#18)
    by dissenter on Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 03:47:01 AM EST
    The UN proves my point the world over. It is the single most corrupt and ineffective body in the world. It would take you like a five minute google search to come to the same conclusion.

    I will make it easy - start with Bosnia, then go to Africa, then Iraq, etc.

    There is on defending this organization.

    Parent

    Drop (none / 0) (#13)
    by waldenpond on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 01:46:30 PM EST
    There is a drop being filmed.  Individuals are fighting over and grabbing whole boxes of MRE's and refusing to share.  Not enough to feed the many at this one park.  There is going to be a lot of security needed to stop hoarding and the development of a black market.

    It's niht of the living dead. (none / 0) (#15)
    by Salo on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 06:04:34 PM EST
    Full horrow show.

    The Smells of Haiti | 18 comments (18 topical)

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