RI TV's disastrous Aceh coverage

Despite the deepest grief for our fellow Indonesians who became victims of the horrible tsunami disaster in Aceh and North Sumatra, I have been amazed and even confused at how the local TV stations, except Metro TV, have responded to the tragic situation.

I cannot believe that the news and updates of this sad tragedy are only aired during their regular news schedules. I guess the people running these stations are stone-hearted humans or they just do not care enough, even after we have lost perhaps 100,000 lives.

In this respect, I appreciate Metro TV for their continuous airing of the latest development of the disaster. The same must be done by other TV stations, considering the magnitude of disaster.

Indeed, in the last couple of days, a couple of stations have started to have additional info in the form of tiny moving news tickers at the bottom of the screen. But they often only contain details of the station's bank accounts for donations to Aceh as well as names of donors. That is the extent of it! Other than that, it is business as usual for these TV stations. It is truly unbelievable that the portion of news for one of the worst disasters in history is so small that even for certain TV stations, the ongoing "Reza and Ajie" celebrity divorce news has a higher priority. What a sad situation.

Back in 2001, a couple days after the Sept. 11 tragedy in the United States, almost all the TV stations aired the latest situation updates for several days. It is still clear in my mind as well, how several TV stations aired the moments of the U.S. invasion in Iraq and continued for the first few weeks. One TV station even continuously aired the live updates in cooperation with an Arabic TV station.

I have not seen a similar response to the catastrophe that has occurred in our own land and to our fellow citizens.

Certainly what happened in Aceh should be given a much greater proportion than the above-mentioned events. Why should we care anymore about celebrity breakups or reunions. Our tears should be for our poor brothers, sisters and children in Aceh and North Sumatra.

IRMA F. SUMARYANTO, Tangerang, Banten