Tragedy, it seems, has become a significant part of what media outlets deem newsworthy. Such is the case with earthquake-ridden Haiti, or tsunami-laden Indonesia.

According to most major news sources, an estimated 200,000 people are dead following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in the Caribbean island, and it’s no wonder it has garnered an immense amount of media attention. Haitian relief has been adopted as a major priority by a number of non-profit and humanitarian organizations and is seen as a selling point to collect funds. The influence of such coverage is significant, as many across the country have mobilized to do their part for the relief effort.

However, my gripe with media outlets is the lack of coverage given to events that are much less romantic, do not involve celebrity advocacy, but are just as tragic.

Genocide, resource-based wars and the recruitment of child soldiers are all issues that have fallen out of media coverage but remain arguably more tragic than the events in Haiti. This can be seen by the fact they were the result of man-made decisions as opposed to natural phenomena. If tragedy is part and parcel of content delivered by media outlets, it is reasonable to question why a natural disaster is capable of taking up hours upon hours of coverage while there is an ongoing mass slaughter of innocents.

The biggest problem with this pattern of coverage is media often allow governments and various organizations to set their agendas with regard to international development, advocacy and relief. It is ideally responsible for informing the population at-large of the major issues that need to be addressed.

Hence, by choosing to ignore certain issues in favour of news that is much more marketable, media fail to fulfill its purpose: delivering objective information about crucial issues in the world.

In this way, my problem with coverage of the Haitian relief effort stems from the core model of media outlets as businesses operating to generate profit.

Media outlets should be responsible for conveying the message that tragedies like the Haitian earthquake are everyday realities all over the world and are not occasional occurrences.