The fine folks at
Ugga Bugga picked up on something that I've noticed in passing over the last couple of days: There seems to be a lot of focus on the white folks (you know, the ones who have homes to go back to in places where the stench of death and cholera are not pressing issues) involved in this monumental tragedy.
Now, before you troll me or congratulate me or whatnot, let's consider why this might be for a moment. There are some perfectly legitimate structural reasons for this. Outside of continental India and the tourist-oriented Thai resorts on the Andaman Sea, English is not a common language to find in this area of the world...unless you're an American, a European or an Anzac. My guess is that part of the coverage has to do with this language barrier. This also has a possible second, deeper reason as well.
Relatively speaking, it's easier to get someone to talk to you about a tragedy like this when you share a common language and when the person you're trying to interview has not lost literally their whole life...home, family, friends, possessions and livelihood. We saw the same thing on 9/11 in NYC...it was easier to interview folks who did not have a loved one missing in the jetliner strikes, fires and collapse of the World Trade Center. Most people whose family or friends were directly involved were too distraught to talk to some stranger accompanied by a cameraman and a sound monkey. Now think about this same scenario, except you don't share a common language. Taking that into consideration, the coverage is not necessarily driven by racism, but possibly by language barriers and the simple horror that victims share around the world.
This is also not an area of the world that is easy to get around after all the devastation wrought by the earthquake and tsunami. On Sumatra, the devastated province of Aceh has been effectively closed to foreigners and administered under martial law for the last few years. On Sri Lanka, most major rail lines and roads follow the coastline and hence were either destroyed or severely damaged by the tsunami. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are some of the more remote places on Earth, accesible by infrequent air and sea links.
While I am suspect of the news coverage's weighting of Europeans, Americans and Anzacs, I do think there are legitimate reasons why this is the case, not just racist bias on the part of the media.