Internet: A Stronger Force Than Realized

Hope for Haiti Now

What were your plans last Friday night? For over 36 million people, their plans included viewing a live broadcast of "Hope for Haiti Now," a Haitian earthquake relief benefit in which over 100 celebrities entertained viewers.

"Expect this to dominate both the Internet and the television tomorrow night," wrote Mashable's Samuel Axon, regarding Friday night's broadcast of "Hope for Haiti Now." Axon was right. The event aired all over the world via television and live streams on the Internet.

The big surprise was not how much the benefit raised, almost $60 million, but rather how many viewers it received. Sixteen million viewers tuned in to watch the event from their television screens. However, a whopping 20 million people caught the benefit online. Axon also stated that over 30 networks were involved in the "Hope for Haiti Now" broadcast, including MTV, CNN, CBS and other major networks.

The fact that more viewers caught the broadcast online than on television goes to show how much the times have changed. The Internet has come a long way already, but is still becoming an increasingly powerful force in terms of how they present the latest news to the world.

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How To Help Haiti By Watching Football

The news world is constantly changing, especially when it comes to helping causes such as Haiti. After the era where you had to actually watch the news to get the news, I remember the day where I would be watching a show and a news story would scroll across the screen. Years later, not only would the breaking story show up, but then a number or a website would scroll across after that one could contact to send money to the relief effort. Well now, journalism has taken it one step farther. While watching the NFL, Minnesota Vikings vs Dallas Cowboys game today, a box at the bottom of the screen popped up. This box gave the opportunity for one to text the number 90999 to the U.S. Department of State, and by texting this number, $10 would be taken from your phone bill to help Red Cross Haiti relief efforts. On Friday, it had raised over $8 million, and the number continues to rise substantially.

Besides the advertisements on television for texting 90999 to help, blog spots have also made a huge difference in this project. About 3% of all blog posts (including this one) have something to do with the earthquake in

Haiti, with "tweets" from Twitter being the leader. The Red Cross on Twitter has gained more than 10,000 followers since the earthquake, which is clearly much more than the usual 50-100 a day.

Whether it is popping up during a football game or on your Twitter homepage, the advertisement to text 90999 to help the Red Cross seems to be everywhere. Journalism, along with technology, has taken the relief effort one step further, helping an astounding number of victims from the earthquake.

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Haitian Earthquake Allows Media to Broaden Horizons

Rather than just posting facts or updates about the damage from the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, many news sites have begun covering the story from different angles.

Some websites choose to show picture to illustrate the damage the earthquake left. The NYTimes displays an aerial view of Haiti on their website, in which a person can use the 'swipe' tool to view the before and after image. Other websites like MSNBC include galleries of disturbing images from the aftermath of the earthquake. PicFog even allows 'tweeters' to upload images regarding Haiti via their Twitter accounts.

Apart from the graphic images that have been flooding the web the past few days, some sites include audio and video footage of the earthquake damage. Radio Station World allows people to listen for updates directly from Haiti, while CNN shows footage from street cameras as the earthquake actually hit.

Some of the more ambitious websites even set up tools to help with the recovery in Haiti. CNN's iReport features a "Looking for loved ones in Haiti," section. This allows anyone to upload images of missing loved ones, read stories on families who were reunited throughout the week, as well as view live reports and shout-outs from Haiti. GeoCommons allows viewers to study Haiti through maps. GeoCommons' map shows the possible fault line, the epicenter of the earthquake, and the locations of tremors after the initial shock. It also displays reports from Haiti on the destruction and recovery process. Twitter also played a major role in the coverage of the haitian earthquake by allowing users to 'tweet' reports from Haiti, or spread the word on new developments with thousands of other 'tweeters' throughout the world.

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News Reader Responsibility

Have you ever wondered how the news media chooses stories. Or what happens as they create the order of stories for the evening. Well, here is a little tip. It is all about the money. They want stories which will give them the best ratings. It just so happens that those kinds of stories almost always are disaster pieces. For instance, in Haiti which has recently been the site of a massive major disaster has been receiving assistance from all over the world to aid in the relief effort. The media has a responsibility to report these to the rest of the world. However, there are cases where the media should take a second look at what they are reporting because it is something the world does not need to hear. For instance people had a desire and a want to listen to news about Tiger Woods. This is perfectly ok to report on but when the story is major news a month after it happened we should ask ourselves, there has to be something more important going on in the world than Tiger Woods cheating on his wife.

I guess what I want to get across with this message is we as active news listeners need to filter through the news stories and look for ones that have actual meaning in the world. By doing this I think the United States would gain more knowledge of the rest of the world and its problems.

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