I just got an email back from a Liberian photojournalist who covered Ebola when it hit Liberia. Laura Welfringer interviewed him for Global Journalist last semester and produced Photo essay: Capturing the Ebola outbreak. I asked him if he could help put me in touch with an Ebola survivor. He said he can assist. I think it'll be incredible to speak with someone firsthand. I hope the interview comes through.
The coverage is interesting this week. For the first time ever, the U.S. has more cases Ebola cases than Liberia. Liberia hasn't recorded any cases since March 5. But Sierra Leone and Guinea are each reporting about 60 cases a week, according to the World Health Organization. The American health worker was infected while treating patients in Sierra Leone and was transferred to the National Institutes of Health on Friday. He is currently in critical condition. I like the information in this article, but I'm not sure I like the way it's framed. It's definitely eye-catching. Yes, the U.S. does have more patients at the moment than Liberia. But for months, Liberia had hundreds of cases a week. Liberia experienced 9,000 cases of Ebola compared with a handful of Americans who have been flown home to receive the best possible care. This is not an equal opportunity disease. It kills people who do not have access to care. Instead of focusing on the one person who is in critical condition, what about focusing on the dozens of others in Sierra Leone and Guinea who are still dying? The proximity news angle is relevant here. It's news because it's an American and because that American risked his life to help others. I do think that's noble. But I guess I'd like to see more rebuilding stories out of Liberia and more coverage of what people in Sierra Leone and Guinea are doing to quell the epidemic.
I really enjoyed this article from the Daily Beast about a 16-year-old Ebola orphan from Sierra Leone. The girl and her two brothers are receiving assistance from Street Child UK, an NGO working to support the Ebola orphans in their communities. The article mentioned James Kassage Arinaitwe's article "Ebola orphans in Africa do not need saviours." I really liked Arinaitwe's article and blogged about it when I read it late February. His premise is that when media organizations highlight an individual, others wonder why they were not chosen. Adopting children from tough situations makes the situation tougher for those left behind. So the idea of Street Child UK is that orphans will be supported in their own communities so they can stay there, go to school and maintain some semblance of normalcy. I like this article because it's honest, yet hopeful. It talks about an individual person, but does not frame her as a helpless victim. She is rebuilding. Her father protected his children by quarantining himself and as a result, saved their lives. The reporter also gathered great detail even though she interviewed through a translator and it looks like at times over the phone. I like it because it takes Arinaitwe's criticism into account, while still drawing on the power of the individual narrative.
The coverage is interesting this week. For the first time ever, the U.S. has more cases Ebola cases than Liberia. Liberia hasn't recorded any cases since March 5. But Sierra Leone and Guinea are each reporting about 60 cases a week, according to the World Health Organization. The American health worker was infected while treating patients in Sierra Leone and was transferred to the National Institutes of Health on Friday. He is currently in critical condition. I like the information in this article, but I'm not sure I like the way it's framed. It's definitely eye-catching. Yes, the U.S. does have more patients at the moment than Liberia. But for months, Liberia had hundreds of cases a week. Liberia experienced 9,000 cases of Ebola compared with a handful of Americans who have been flown home to receive the best possible care. This is not an equal opportunity disease. It kills people who do not have access to care. Instead of focusing on the one person who is in critical condition, what about focusing on the dozens of others in Sierra Leone and Guinea who are still dying? The proximity news angle is relevant here. It's news because it's an American and because that American risked his life to help others. I do think that's noble. But I guess I'd like to see more rebuilding stories out of Liberia and more coverage of what people in Sierra Leone and Guinea are doing to quell the epidemic.
I really enjoyed this article from the Daily Beast about a 16-year-old Ebola orphan from Sierra Leone. The girl and her two brothers are receiving assistance from Street Child UK, an NGO working to support the Ebola orphans in their communities. The article mentioned James Kassage Arinaitwe's article "Ebola orphans in Africa do not need saviours." I really liked Arinaitwe's article and blogged about it when I read it late February. His premise is that when media organizations highlight an individual, others wonder why they were not chosen. Adopting children from tough situations makes the situation tougher for those left behind. So the idea of Street Child UK is that orphans will be supported in their own communities so they can stay there, go to school and maintain some semblance of normalcy. I like this article because it's honest, yet hopeful. It talks about an individual person, but does not frame her as a helpless victim. She is rebuilding. Her father protected his children by quarantining himself and as a result, saved their lives. The reporter also gathered great detail even though she interviewed through a translator and it looks like at times over the phone. I like it because it takes Arinaitwe's criticism into account, while still drawing on the power of the individual narrative.
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