Common Sense Lost in Indian Ocean
Lessons learnt from covering flight MH370 crisis
March 8, Malaysian Airline jet MH370 went missing, so did our common sense and empathy.
Within a month since the plane’s disappearance, we see the once burning questions like “What happen?” moved on to “who’s fault is it?” and now “will we ever find it?”.
Disaster can unite us or break us.
In this case, it took us a whole lot of finger pointing, smear campaign, irresponsible speculations, reckless news coverage, media attention whores, divine intervention and sarcasm, before we sober up and listen to what we are really saying. We did eventually. Better late than never.
I just want to pen down observations me and my colleagues collected from covering this aviation crisis here in my beloved homeland, and perhaps point out what we missed while “demanding” the “truth”.
Nobody knows everything.
While the press pack waits for the 5.30 pm daily media briefing at Sama Sama Hotel, KLIA, few of us local journo couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the fact that a news event of such magnitude is happening right at our doorstep. After this, Malaysians will probably be spared from explaining where our sweet-potato-shaped west peninsula is on the world map.
Malaysia is a relatively disaster free nation, no volcano, no earthquake, no forest fire, no hurricane. A bad flood and occasional Sulu invasion in Sabah is as much action as the majority of (young) journalist see. Aren't we such lucky bunch?
So when the news broke, most of us who has close to zero aviation knowledge scrambles to the fray, hoping that common sense will serve us well for the time being.
The first few days were tough. Conspiracy theory from unnamed “aviation experts” flooded the media. There was such lack of information, news agency threw the age old journalism mantra “when in doubt, leave it out” out the window. There were constant debunking of theories in the press conference (PC) and to our horror, the reputable outlets were the ones fueling the speculations. We didn't know who to believe either.
My colleague covering that day asked a newsman from a well-known agency from which source they got such “theories” from.
“ nah, it’s just that my editor has this crazy idea of the plane being blah blah blah…..” he said
What?! And you publish that shit internationally?
PIX by Saw Siow Feng/
The Malay Mail Online
Although the event happens at our home ground, sad to say local media lack the confidence to trust themselves on having the ability to judge whether foreign agencies are making sense or not. The frequency of UK tabloid Daily Mail being quoted is just appalling. Whatever happened to gate keeping? Resisting from releasing untrue, unconfirmed information is part of the job description, and click traffic/circulation shouldn't be taking the front seat.
Foreign journo chuckles when local media raise their hands in PC, asking the minister to “confirm or refute” a wild speculation written in the tabloid. It’s called ‘tabloid’ for a reason, y’know? I’m embarrassed.
It is our duty as the forth estate to monitor the authority critically, even so when it comes to our own government. This event has opened my eyes to how media is constantly looking for a punching bag, regardless of whether any punching is deserved.
I know this comes across as nationalistic, but I would not have noticed that our officials didn't deserved to be called “utterly incompetent” hadn't I have the local knowledge. I have experienced its governance long enough to say that the improvement they've made after the initial chaos is definitely not “utterly incompetent”.
What I’m trying to say is, falling back on official for information isn't always a bad idea, especially when anything near solid is too out of reach for us to fetch. Making things up for the sake of filling the day to day headline won’t cut it.
Nobody expects a “breaking news” everyday and people just got to accept that there’s no or little development in the story, continue to monitor while letting the event takes its own course.
At times of adversity, see people as more human than they already are.
Passengers, pilots, next-of-kin, airline staffs, caregivers, my government officials, your government officials, rescuers, journalists, and even the online population alike, are all, essentially human. Just like ourselves.
We all feel just as sad, confused and frustrated, but at the same time, some shoulder the responsibilities to solve this tough mystery. Empathy can help in so many ways, what if you’re put on the spot to handle this? Won’t you hope for people to be more understanding?
The hardest part of disaster reporting is talking to victims or their families. It’s a judgement call for journos, often torn between “getting the story” and “respecting their privacy”. Media agencies are guilty of putting scenes of grieving people as part of their disaster porn, displaying their despair for public consumption. Having made to forcefully fetch such sensational material, is certainly not the proudest moment even if you succeed.
I was also assigned to monitor the Chinese press for developments in Beijing. Boy, Malaysian government got bashed up in their media big time. On a daily basis and in BIG FAT RED TITLES.
I've seen a calm TV interview in English, being twisted into a dramatic, completely misquoted article written in Mandarin.
The reason why people from PRC are so worked up about this crisis is of course, their people make up a third of the passengers. Later the protest against Malaysia got intense like boycotting Malaysian celebrities, “Buatan Malaysia” products, halt holiday plans etc.
Keep in mind that the media and flow of information in China is tightly controlled by the communist party. If their people is being bombarded with such headlines and columns on mainstream media, for sure public opinion won’t be favorable.
The emotions are true but the escalation of it was instigated. Media outlets are mostly state-owned, it could have been controlled but allowed to run errant. Plus, nationalistic sentiments is a common tactic to achieve unity.
For us who enjoys the luxury of free press more than them, can learn to put ourselves in their shoes before throwing our fists.
Respect facts.
Distributing information during a crisis is easier and quicker than before, so is the spreading of rumors. Yes, the media is doing a crappy job at reining in speculations. But that doesn't change the fact that truth must prevail at all times.
There’s a fine line between being skeptical and naively disbelieving facts. I've met people wanting to discuss news event with me, but when I tell them what he or she said has been debunked with solid evidence, the person insist on disbelieving. No hard feelings, mate. Whatever makes you happy.
Here’s a classic example of social media rumor gone viral. This video of a oil and gas tanker sailing in Atlantic sea was falsely claimed to be the Indian Ocean where the Search and Rescue operation is at.
I believe most people were just very concern about the crisis and didn't put much thought into it before hitting share. When it was pointed out, many felt sorry that they were the circulating the rumor.
I sure hope it made a memorable impression on them, making people more careful of what they share on social media.
Be a responsible opinion leader on social media.
Speaking of which, I feel very lucky to be surrounded by such people, in real life and online. People who spoke sense and dare to be the dissenting voice before public opinion swing their way. I learnt to form better opinion through their views and their reasoning when challenged.
Social media is a double-edged sword. Rather than rumors and emotional bickering, the online environment can grow to become more sensible. After all, we are real people behind the keyborad.
For now, internet still brings out the asshole in people.
It’s been a difficult month for everyone, especially the next of kin of passengers and the rescuers. Despite the mishap, there are plenty of takeaways for governments, the aviation industry, journalist and the public.
We pray for the best and hope to grow stronger, more caring and vigilant as a nation, as well as citizens of this planet.
