3 Men and a Little Lady Wish You Happy Hanukah! Merry Christmas! Happy Kwanza!

And while you are having a “Merry,” remember the Tsunami that paid a visit some years back. Let’s honor its victims. I was pleased that Sri Lanka’s great blogger and science writer, Nalaka Gunawardene, sent us this essay, an indication of our global reach and, happily, the respect Mediachannel.org enjoys alll over the world.

• Better Governance: The Biggest Lesson of 2004 Tsunami By Nalaka Gunawardene

On 26 December 2009, we mark the fifth anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, one of the biggest and deadliest disasters in history. It left a trail of destruction across South and Southeast Asia, killing over 225,000 and shattering the lives of millions more.

For many of us in the media and communication sectors, this was the biggest story of our lives. Because the killer waves hit numerous coastal locations in several countries, this disaster’s ‘Ground Zero’ was scattered far and wide. Not even the largest news organisations could see, hear and capture everything. Everyone had to choose.

And not just geographically, but thematically too, the tsunami’s impact was felt across sectors, issues and concerns. That provided both ample scope and many challenges for journalists, aid workers and others who rushed to the multiple scenes of disaster.

But there was a downside. Because the tsunami’s scale was so vast and its effects spread so wide, no single individual or organisation could comprehend the full picture for months. For many of us in the Indian Ocean rim, culturally unfamiliar with tsunamis, it was as if a Godzilla had stomped through our coasts. Grasping the full, strange phenomenon was hard.

Journalists, professionally trained to hastily produce ‘first drafts of history’, found it a bit like being close to a huge tapestry still being woven: we all absorbed parts of the unfolding complexity. We reported or analysed those elements that held our interest. But we were too close, and too overwhelmed, for much perspective.

Five years on, we can ‘zoom out’ more easily to see the bigger picture. When I do, one overarching factor stands out as the most important and lasting lesson of the tsunami: the need for better governance.

The absence of good governance was at the root of most major stories about the tsunami. It cut across every level in our societies — politics, public institutions, corporate sector, humanitarian agencies, academia and civil society.

A bagful of lessons [More here →]

Science writer Nalaka Gunawardene heads the non-profit foundation TVE Asia Pacific, and initiated Children of Tsunami media project that tracked survivor recovery stories in the four hardest hit countries for one year. He blogs at: Moving Images. More video: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

• CHRISTMAS DAY CONTROVERSY: Russia Today lashes back at Fox’s Bill O’Reilly with a comment by your news dissector.

[snip]

“So how much should the network that lauds itself as “the most trusted name in news” be trusted?”

“It is part of what you call a shtick,” explains independent filmmaker and media critic Danny Schechter. “He [Bill O’Reilly] goes to Rupert Murdoch, his boss, and he says: Look, I’ve just upset the whole of Russia, and Murdoch says ‘Great!’ and O’Reilly says: Please remember this when it’s time to give salary increases, and give me a bonus.”

“As Americans begin to wake up to the thought that what their mainstream media says is often detached from reality, the question rises as to whether the US media’s ever-increasing attention-grabbing tactics could cause its credibility to fly out the window.” [More here →]

Comments to: Dissector@mediachannel.org