18 February 2010

Haiti Speaks - Who Listens?

It's now more than a month since a horrific earthquake killed almost a quarter million people and displaced thousands more in Haiti. Arguably this is when we truly learn about the amazing resilience of the human spirit, because this is when the shock has worn off, most of the global mainstream media has left, and crisis responders have other crises to address.

It's a bit of a shame, really - while it's somewhat understandable that the world's attention is focusing elsewhere, there are amazing stories of perseverance and inspiration being told. Perhaps more importantly, Haitians are telling the stories themselves.

I've sung their praises countless times before, but Global Voices Online deserves so much credit and respect for bringing these personal stories from citizen journalists forward. I make special note of a recent post by Fabienne Flessel that looked at how Haitians were celebrating Valentine's Day this year.

GVO's commitment to this story and to covering it from the perspectives of those living it is unique among "professional" media, yet amazingly common in the world of social media. Something for communications "pro's" like me to keep in mind.

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