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Snow-Day Caller Tells Media to Get Back to Reporting Real News

Snow-Day Caller Tells Media to Get Back to Reporting Real News
You may remember a little story we posted the other day about a Fairfax County High School student named Devraj Kori, who called a school administrator's home to question the decision not to close the area's schools for snow. Dean Tistadt's wife, Candy, returned Kori's call and left the boy a minute long rant chastising him for calling their home number with some harsh words, including the phrase "snotty-nosed little brats."

Well it turns out Kori isn't exactly enjoying the media attention either. Following the coverage from the Washington Post and CNN Kori has been inundated with phone calls from media outlets who he says have better things to cover. "I think there are issues like Darfur, I mean there are presidential primaries going on. There's so many other things that could have this media attention."

We're apt to agree with Kori on this one. We may be reporting it, but as an outlet that purely covers technology it's perfectly reasonable that we would pay attention. Outlets like CNN have probably dedicated more time to Kori's snow day phone call in the last three days than it has to Darfur in the last three months. And speaking of Darfur when was the last time you heard anything about it? Don't even remember do you, so we'll do CNN's job and give you a quick update - It's not getting better. Government forces in Sudan recently opened fire on a convoy of peace keepers from the United Nations and the African Union, though denied the attack was intentional. And to make matters worse, the government appointed Musa Hilal, who is accused of being a leader in the Janjaweed militia and being directly involved in the atrocities in the Darfur region, to a senior position.

Now that we've got the ball rolling maybe CNN can pick up where we left off and take Kori's advice -- start reporting on issues of true consequence and leave the quirky stories of internet phenomena to the tech blogs.

From CNN

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Google Earth Shows Darfur Crisis


Google Earth is a fascinating program that allows you to zoom in on virtually any location on earth using satellite imagery. As of today, however, when you search for Darfur, you are shown a large red region titled "Crisis in Darfur." This is one of the first times a search engine of this scale has become involved in international politics. Google looks at it as a way to educate its users to the atrocities occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Sudan.

"At Google, we believe technology can be a catalyst for education and action," Elliot Schrage, Google's vice president of global communications and public affairs told CNN. "'Crisis in Darfur' will enable Google Earth users to visualize and learn about the destruction in Darfur as never before and join the museum's efforts in responding to this continuing international catastrophe."

Crisis hot-spots are shown in red flames. When users zoom in on them, they are shown damaged and destroyed villages with photographic evidence. Also involved is the Holocaust museum which provided much of the content.

From CNN


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