Hurricane Ivan

[miriam_e]

Interesting thing I read in New Scientist letters pages last night:

...hurricane Ivan "veered from its original New Orleans-bound course last year"... it struck Cuba, with at least as much devastating force as Katrina struck Louisiana.

But this went largely unreported in our media, possibly because the much-maligned government of Cuba had taken the trouble to prepare for this predictable event, rather than relying on luck and charity. Nearly 2 million people were evacuated from the path of the storm in a systematic and orderly fashion, and not one Cuban was killed. It's not exactly rocket science.

Interesting. As in England, I don't recall this being reported here in Australia.
It worries me that we are becoming ever more of a US state.

Comments

[sharpblonde.livejournal.com]

It can be annoying, I know. I don't know how much American media you get in Australia, but seriously, here in Canada we get more shows from the U.S. then Canada and just as much news (on tv anyway, but even with newspapers you can still get 'em... Or at least the New York Star). I'd like a real international News show/channel, not just segments. Seems like we only ever hear about anywhere other then Canada or the U.S. if something big like the Tsunami last year or the transit bombings in England or something happens.

[damien-wise.livejournal.com]

I read that, too, but only through New Scientist.
The mainstream media in Australia is tightly controlled and we get only a very filtered view of overseas events and a somewhat contrived view of local events. The same goes for America.
When it comes to us getting news on the USA, it's been twice filtered and warped. Unless you go digging into the non-mainstream and alternative press sites, magazines, etc., you'll get a highly sanitised, politically motivated, right-wing, big-business point of view. The media, like any other big business, are there to make money and know how to look after their interests.
I'd like to think that this is all changing because of the internet...but it's still happening very slowly. You can download biting comedy/current-affairs such as The Daily Show, or get streaming internet broadcasts of independent radio-stations (there's some good stuff there!).