The earthquake in Haiti was known all over the world thanks to Mass Media. Haiti is a very poor country, with very low resources due to its lack of money and government help. This earthquake shocked one of the poorest countries in the world and if it wasn't for the media, many countries wouldn't have known that Haiti had gotten struck by an earthquake. Many media sources traveled to Haiti to inform the world about the devastation this country was facing. Many wealthy people found out not too long after the earthquake struck thanks to the media and decided to make donations to Charity's and fund raising's, which helped out the suffering poor people who lost everything January 12, 2010. Presidents from all over the world touched their heart and came together to donate well needed money to Haiti. Media informed the whole world and many celebrities, such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Madonna, etc, donated millions of dollars to Haiti. News channels like Univision and others, opened phone lines for viewers to donate money to the Red Cross or texting numbers for cell phone carriers to text and donate the amount of $10 to the Red Cross to help the Haitian community get back on their feet.
Mass Media impacted this catastrophe in many positive and negative ways. A very negative way that some media insinuated Haiti, and its catastrophe was that they made Haiti look even worse than it was. Something that the Media showed that wasn’t necessary to show, was when some Doctors from Puerto Rico took pictures holding beer bottles while they were at the refugee camps assisting the injured. Mass Media shouldn't have broadcasted this on TV because even though it was wrong, these doctors volunteered their own time to go help people in need. These doctors were there because they wanted to help the country. The media posted pictures and the doctors must have gotten in serious trouble for something that shouldn’t have been so negative. Maybe the doctors needed something to take their stress or tiredness out and a few beers helped to relieve them from all the work. Some media channels such as Fox, have a republican set of mind. There has been a lot of controversy regarding where the money that has been donated has gone. Media channels still show the Haitian community struggling and wondering where at the "millions" of dollars have been spent because they see little change. They show people fighting over water, food and shelter, which makes people(media viewers)feel bad and donate more money to the needed. After a person donates the money, they don’t know where their money ends up, which makes people wonder if media is taking advantage of people or if the government is using this money for other debts or issues they need to solve.
