in the news, vol. I

Now that two weeks have passed since the earthquake and tsunami disaster in south Asia, the media is predictably (and regrettably) starting to change its focus in an inward direction. Front-page stories are changing from coverage of death, grief and hope to that of how our government responded, and continues to respond to, the crisis. Now don't get me wrong; I believe that an independent media plays a vital role in challenging decisions made by democratically elected governments ( proof in point: check out media from Iran, China, and Russia). But I find too much forced introspection at this time not only unnecessary, but also distasteful.

In a crisis the magnitude of the tsunami, relief agencies are best equipped to provide immediate aid to those in need. That's why the incredible financial generosity of Canadians has been directed towards these agencies, and not the government. Already, MSF has stated that it received more money than it needs for south Asia (hard to comprehend), and is directing funds to other projects. Governments in the West are in a position to provide relief in ways that NGO's cannot: debt relief to affected nations, as well as facilitating diplomatic negotiations with governments facing ethnic strife or internal tension (Sri Lanka and Indonesia specifically). Canada should also be praised for its ongoing attempt to expedite the immigration process for those residing in countries that were affected by the tsunami. It is for these reasons that public debates in the media such as: how fast our government returned from vacation to make a public statement; or whether they have pledged enough money; or how fast they deployed a disaster response team to the area, are highly insignificant.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t call out the opposition parties, who will scream and yell at the elected party any chance they get. Recent polls suggest that an overwhelming majority of Canadians approve of how the government has responded; further proof that the opposition leaders are acting completely out of vanity, and in the process are disrespecting those that voted for them. Which leaves one final question: why doesn’t the media just ignore them? The answer: a fear of being perceived as biased towards the ruling party. But come on, we Canadians are smarter than that.