Local Media Misses the Point, Again!

When more than 20 people are lost in a horrific road accident;

When tens of families are grieving their own losses of deaths and permanent injuries;

When parents are trying to sniff deceased childrens' bodies to find their own kids' leftovers, because the bodies are totally deformed;

When other children are lying in the arms of total strangers, till they find out if their own parents made it or not;

When there are real faces behind the names;

When there are real lives behind the numbers;

Innocent people who were killed in a flash;

Leaving behind grief and sorrow;

You want your media to focus on the things that matter.

You want to know how the accident happened.

Why it happened.

How it could have been prevented.

How to make sure it doesn't happen again.

You want to meet the families and share their pain.

You want to know who X was and what kind of life he was living.

You want to hear about what  his hope and his dreams were.

You want to relate to his loved ones' loss.

You DO NOT want to hear about the great job that the Civil Defence people did.

You do not want  to hear about the great equipment they just added to their fleet that came in really handy in this situation.

Because if you just lost a loved one, you cant see how great their performance was.

I agree that 'Nashama al wa6an' did do a great job, and credit is well due.

But think of the families in grief.

Don't they deserve to see that something is being done to honor their losses.

Something is done to provide them and their country with a decent way to bid their loved ones farewell.

It's good to appreciate the efforts put in at the moment ,but Jordan Television and Radio Fann are missing the point. Instead of dedicating their time to praise of authorities,they should be allowing all of Jordan to grieve together over this horrible accident, for hope that we learn to be more careful, more attentive and more responsible.

With more than twenty deaths to mourn, I say the pat on the shoulder CAN wait.


January 2008