Ethnic Media
at Forefront of Tsunami Relief Efforts
By Pueng Vongs and
Sandip Roy
Pacific News Service
Mani Manivannan, editor of
the Tamil monthly Thendral, was about to take
his January issue to press in Sunnyvale, Calif.,
when news of the tsunami hit. As images of devastation
flooded in from his home state of Tamilnadu in
India, he held the issue for 24 hours, rewrote
stories and penned a new column asking readers
to donate to relief efforts.
"We wanted to act as the conscience of the
community," says Manivannan. "This was
no run-of-the-mill disaster."
Ethnic media throughout immigrant communities
whose home countries were ravaged by the tsunami
are playing leading roles in mobilizing relief.
Even media serving immigrants from China and Vietnam
feel compelled to help. Little Saigon Radio, based
in Orange County, Calif., raised half a million
dollars from its audience within a week of the
disaster.
Longtime ethnic media watcher Felix Gutierrez
is not surprised. "People turn to ethnic
media first when looking for news from their home
countries during natural disasters or political
upheaval," says Gutierrez, a professor of
journalism at USC's Annenberg School for Communication.
Ethnic media, he says, is simply "closer
to their communities."
Members of the Thai community, for example, turned
to their media to find out how they could help
and locate missing friends and family.
"A woman looking for a loved one in one of
the worst hit areas, Phang Nga, contacted us,"
says Andy Asvakovith of the Thai Press Club of
San Francisco, a consortium of Thai media outlets
in the United States. "We try to help them
as best we can. Our papers also publish places
people can contact to find information."
Ethnic media not only bridge language barriers,
but also help their readers channel funds. "We
are in a unique position as a conduit," says
Hassina Leelarathne, editor of the biweekly Sri
Lanka Express in Arleta, Calif. "We know
people on the ground. We can make sure a medicine
shipment goes to a specific place, even to a specific
doctor."
"A lot of organizations are suddenly appearing,"
says Ibrahim Erawan, editor of the bi-weekly Indonesia
Media in Glendora, Calif. "We want to make
sure the money is really distributed to the needy."
Indonesia, closest to the quake's center, was
hardest hit, with about 90,000 casualties. Though
civil strife in Aceh made information hard to
come by until US satellite pictures showed the
extent of the damage, Indonesian media had already
begun mobilizing their community.
The Indonesian News, the first Indonesian-American
TV news program broadcast in Los Angeles and San
Francisco, helped coordinate efforts among 11
Northern California Indonesian churches and the
consulate, says program director Lana Togas. In
Southern California, where there are 40,000 Indonesians,
print publication Indonesian Media helped initially
raise more than $17,000 through cultural events.
Ethnic media publishers and editors are so embedded
in their communities they automatically become
integral to relief efforts. For example, Dr. Romesh
Japra, publisher of India Post in Fremont, Calif.,
is also president of the Federation of India Associations,
which is helping raise money and coordinate medical
help. Leelarathne of Sri Lanka Express has brought
Sri Lankan organizations like the Business Council
and the Sri Lanka Foundation together under one
umbrella. Manivannan of Thendral is also the outgoing
president of the Tamil Manram organization. In
that capacity he has been instrumental in getting
Indian Tamils and Sri Lankan Tamils together.
"Normally we celebrate Pongal (harvest festival)
at this time," Manivannan says. "We
are converting it into a fund-raiser for the tsunami.
We hope to raise $25,000 to $50,000 dollars."
Manivannan says that while many people give to
the Red Cross, especially because their employer
may match donations, smaller, non-governmental
relief organizations often rely on the support
of ethnic communities. This direct bloodline between
the diaspora and the homeland is even more critical
when political tensions are involved. It's ethnic
Sri Lankan Tamils who know which relief organization
can navigate the political tensions between the
Sri Lankan government and the Tamil rebels.
Ethnic media also use their community connections
to assemble fund-raising events in places as disparate
as temples and a soon-to-be-opened Thai themed
casino in Las Vegas. A sea container with 30,000
pieces of clothing is ready to be shipped to Thailand,
along with $139,000 that was raised in just a
few days, says Asvakovith of the Thai Press Club.
Though some media like India Post are planning
a "tsunami issue," others are not waiting
on their print cycle, turning instead to the Internet.
Rediff.com, which publishes the weekly India Abroad
in New York, has launched click2donate, a tsunami-specific
online charity, says spokesperson Debashis Ghosh.
Rediff employees kicked off the campaign by donating
one day's salary each.
Meanwhile in Cupertino, Calif., Chockkalingam
and his wife Sivagami decided to do a 12-hour
radio-thon on their online Tamil radio site, thendral.com
(not affiliated with the magazine), interspersing
song requests with survivor interviews from Chennai,
India. "We even had a poet from Pleasanton
who wrote a poem asking people to donate,"
says Chockkalingam, who gathered donations from
across the United States.
Ethnic media has played this role before. Spanish
broadcast giant Univision sponsored fund-raisers
for disasters such as Hurricane Mitch in the past,
and is now running PSAs about the tsunami. Chinese
media has raised funds for earthquakes in Taiwan,
floods in East China and 9/11. When disasters
strike, ethnic media goes a step further than
most mainstream media, proactively raising money,
says Tim Lau, West Coast vice president for the
Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily media group, which
used both its newspaper and radio show to raise
funds. The other main Chinese language daily,
the World Journal, is also working with the Chinese
Community Service Center to raise money.
Though many ethnic Chinese live in countries like
Indonesia, many other communities not directly
affected by the giant waves have been helping
out.
"We published an appeal asking people to
help just as others had helped us during our floods,"
says Lablu Ansar, executive editor of the Bangladeshi
weekly Thikana, in Long Island. Bangladesh suffered
minimal damage, but Ansar said the community is
raising money from businesses, and from mosques
during Friday prayers.
Though Vietnam was spared the waves' destruction,
Little Saigon Radio raised $500,000 in little
over a week. "Compare that to the $450,000
pledged by the government of Vietnam," says
Derek Nguyen of the station.
Nguyen insists that political rivalries with Hanoi
don't motivate the fund raising. For him, it's
simply a matter of empathy. "You could say
we've been there, done that," Nguyen says.
"We've been through tragedy and we feel for
people who are displaced, lose their loved ones
and need a helping hand."
Lau of Sing Tao Daily agrees. He points out that
with Sing Tao's own contribution of $100,000 and
upwards of $310,000 raised from readers and listeners,
the paper has surpassed its 9/11 fund raising.
"That is a testament to how astounding our
readers felt the damage from the tsunami was,"
Lau says. "It also shows the great connection
we have to others around the world. We are a global
village."
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