I am not nor would not wish the plight of the people of Pakistan to be under estimated. It is without question a disaster of biblical proportions with 20 million stories of tragedy beyond comprehension.
Nonetheless, it exasperates the hell out of me the way that the media is misrepresenting the aid that is peing pledged.
How many people are aware for example that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing Pakistan with $2,000,000,000 (two billion dollars) to help it recover from the devastating floods?
That the UN has pledged $460,000,000, the US $150,000,000, the EU $135,000,000 and Saudi Arabia, $105,000,000?
I am not suggesting for one moment that individuals and organisations should cease raising donations, quite the reverse, I think it right to do so, but I do feel that the media is once again cherry-picking what it reports to the point of missleading and deceiving the public.
The real news should be what is being done, who is doing it, how quickly or otherwise things are being achieved, what we can do as communities and as individuals.
NOT repeatedly showing the same picture of people stood up to their knees in water as a precurser to an appeal, as the BBC has done .
I cite this example because in my view, the imagery they use has clearly been staged for the cameras. Look carefully the next time it is shown and you can see people to the left and the rear of the picture stood on dry ground looking at the people stood in the water.
Why else would you want to stand in dirty water, when there is dry ground yards away, unless someone had asked you to do so for the purpose of the photo?
There are thousands of genuine images of the disaster, far more dramatic than the pathetic staged one. So why fake it?
I , as I imagine most people, wish to be accurately and factually informed, not presented through the eye of a myopic news editor with a 'slant' on the truth.
If you would like to donate, Oxfam is doing its usual stirling work.
You can donate:
Over the phone by credit or debit card: 0300 200 1300.
By cheque (Payable to "Oxfam"):
Over the counter at any Oxfam shop
By post to Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Oxford, OX4 2JY.
