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Home Opinion Editorial Guatemala was hit by a sinkhole not a natural disaster, long live the Free Press

Guatemala was hit by a sinkhole not a natural disaster, long live the Free Press

Thursday, 03 June 2010 13:04 Barbara Schieber
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victimasGuatemala City. Rarely have I see such voracity in sensationalistic international reporting during a nation's enormous tragedy and deadly ordeal as in the case of Guatemala. What is the top story after Guatemala was hit by twin natural disasters in one week, first the volcanic eruption of volcano Pacaya and the tropical Storm Agatha? The picture of the sinkhole of Guatemala City.

Many times the sinkhole is reported and blogged without any context of the disaster and national tragedy that Guatemalans are facing today. We are still digging the death bodies out of the mud, people are starving and have no water, shelter or comfort.

But never mind that, the sinkhole is the star of the story.

The most important discussion on the news is if the sinkhole is a Photoshop picture or if it was made by UFO´s.
3970 news articles are on the top section on Google news about Guatemala under that heading right now.

I went through the trouble to read both the articles and the reader comments.
The comments are starling in their cruelty and sensationalistic inhumane nature: "wow dude how cool", is one of the more flattering comments I can cite.

Another brilliant sensationalist article writer says that the sinkhole looks too perfectly round to be the result of a natural disaster, the writer insinuates that Photoshop could have been used, maybe...., who knows.

The picture is an official picture released by the Press Office of the President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom Caballeros.
Never mind citing the source.

So much for the Free and Independent Press coverage of tragedies and national disasters, anything goes for a sensationalistic attention grabbing headline.

 

Picture: Press Office Guatemala Ministry of Culture and Sports


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Comments (8)

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Excellent point!
DR , June 03, 2010
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congratulations, you just hit it! I am sick and tired of all sensacionalism about what shouldn't be address as main target, when people are needing the world's attention on devastation, hunger, health issues, housing and shelters issues.
mary , June 04, 2010
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I'm going to Guatemala in July and have been searching for information about the Volcano and Agatha but like you say most of the info is about the sinkhole....people are dead, are starving, roads are gone...not important enough it seems.
Thank you for your insight, I wish people would be more opened to the important stuff in this world but it seems not....
Debbie , June 04, 2010
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I have a friend travelling to New Zealand (I live in Germany) and was told about flight problems because of a volcano eruption, though they didn't know where. I looked at my usual news sites (BBC and some NZ news sites) and there was nothing. I saw the picture of the sink hole, but couldn't find any other articles about what had happened or about the volcanic eruption. I had to type in Guatemala to find out what has actually happened. I'm shocked and saddened that Europe and many other countries only report on events that only affect them (the eruption in Iceland for example) and not report the events as they truly happen. My thoughts and prayers are with the Guatemalan people.
Hayley , June 04, 2010
Some do care about people, just not a hole in the ground.
My heart goes out to all whom have lost their homes & some their families and friends, I will be going out to help at a number of feeding programmes in Guatemala soon.
W Mc I , June 04, 2010
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the Photo is from 1981..
Where is this disaster?
1981 , June 04, 2010
Spot on!
Well said. It's depressing to see the media and how they look for what sells and not what helps those in need. Take a look at the Tennessee Flooding that costs billions recently in the USA. The press barely reported on it. Why? Because the people of Tennessee aren't the type of people to ask for help from the government so the media didn't waste the airtime to report it.

If there isn't a story that sells, then the press could care less about it is my opinion.

I live in Esquipulas, Guatemala and even this far east of Guatemala City and Pacaya we are still dealing with the problems of the storm and the volcano. If ever a country needed international attention, it is now, but not because there is some novelty sink hole here. Because we lost 193 people with thousands still missing!

Blessings,
Vern
Vern Six , June 05, 2010 | url
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This commentary is right on. On may 31st I sent an email to the Canadian Red Cross to inquire as to what kind of assitance was being planned and how I and other Canadian/Guatemalans could help. I asked what was the bes way to organize a fund-raiser through a bank and to this date June 6th I have not had a response. I always had faith in the Red Cross to the first in rescue and assistance efforts but for some unkown reason, the Canadian Red Cross has been totally oblivious to this tragedy.

My prayers are with those unfortunate people who have lost the lives of their loved ones and have lost their lives savings as well.

Maggs , June 06, 2010

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