LxC Task 2 : Charity for Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

One of the most appealing narratives at this moment in global as well as local perspective would be the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan. Among those who were not severely affected by the disaster, charity and donation is one of the appealing news since many people seek to find the way that they can help out victims of the disaster.  

“節電(Setsuden, meaning “power saving” ) is one of the keyword that get attention of locals in Japan in terms of charity, though it is not the charity that people used to think of. [1]Since atomic power plants in Fukushima, the major source of electricity in Tokyo area, are not functioning anymore, people are trying to save electricity as much as possible. Local news tells people tips on saving electricity. A website called 節電広告(power saving advertisements) where amateur graphic designers post “posters” promoting power saving gets attention of local media as well. [2]

Traditional type charity also gets a lot of attention of both global and local media. At this moment, Sankei news says that the biggest issue on this type of charity is the fact that Japan Red Cross could not provide the donations to local government yet. [3]Since tsunami hit broad area in the north part of Japan, it is difficult to identify how bad each town is damaged. Also, at some towns local government office was washed out and thus some local governments do not function at all.

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[1]節電ポスターを貼って、みんなで節電！(Put Setsuden Poster and Save Power!). Net Venture News. 30 March 2011. <http://www.netventure-news.com/news_IpDXRClVw.html>. 1 April 2011. Web.

[2] The actual website address : http://pstr.jp/site/index

[3] 善意が届かない　義援金１０００億円超: 配分のめど立たず、いつ被災者の元へ？ (When is All Donation Sent to Victims?). Msn Sankei News. 5 April 2011. <http://sankei.jp.msn.com/affairs/news/110405/dst11040521000058-n3.htm>. 5 April 2011. Web.

LxC Task2: Is it really news if it only talks about the President?

In The Structure of Foreign News, Galtung states that “the more the event concerns elite people, the more probable it will become a news item.”[1] On the main news channel in Russia, Первыи Канал, this is most certainly true. More specifically, it is true of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the President Medvedev. It is from personal experience growing up and my parents watching the news channel that I can attest that not a single day goes by without the channel mentioning the two heads of government. As “nikolay” points out on an online forum, “Знаете, я давно уже телевизор отказался смотреть. А то постоянно приходилось переключать с Путина на Медведева и наоборот!”[2] Translated, this means: “You know, I have stopped watching television a long time ago. I always had to switch channels from Putin to Medvedev and back again.” As shown, bloggers have been posting on forums to express their anger at the domination of the news by two people.


Galtung points out that “the actions of the elite are, at least usually and in short-term perspective, more consequential than the activities of others.”[3] Yes, the actions of the two head government officials matter. Therefore, they must make the news more often than “ordinary people.” However, how much is too much?

Furthermore, the continuity effect triggers the consistent flow of news about the two leaders. “Once an event has ‘made it’ the news channel will be more readily open for the follow-up events, at a lower threshold value.”[4] The question that begs to be asked for this scenario is: “how low can the threshold value get?” Also, when, if ever, does it become too much? These questions require further research that is beyond the scope of this blog post.


Last but not least, the government has the controlling share of the stocks in the news channel. This has to be considered when evaluating and researching the answers to the questions in the preceding paragraphs.

[1]Galtung, Johan/Ruge, Mari Holmboe. "The Structure of Foreign News." The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers.Volume 2 (1965), Page 69.
[2]Nikolay. ОРТ Первый канал. On-tv.ru. December 13, 2010. http://on-tv.ru/ort_pervyi_kanal/ Accessed April 4, 2011. Internet.

This is a forum that allows users to communicate with each other to discuss streaming of channels over the internet.

[3]Galtung, Johan/Ruge, Mari Holmboe. "The Structure of Foreign News." The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers.Volume 2 (1965), Page 83.
[4]Galtung, Johan/Ruge, Mari Holmboe. "The Structure of Foreign News." The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers.Volume 2 (1965), Page 82.