For Canadian news consumers, the devastating Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami in Asia and Africa has led to a flurry of media coverage that will likely continue until at least the end of January. More than two dozen Canadian journalists and supporting crew have been reporting from the affected countries since Dec. 26. And while the newsroom chiefs have kept an eye on the rising costs of the extensive coverage, the media outlets have been focused on the enormous human story and galvanizing relief efforts at home.

For instance, CBC has had about 10 people, including a documentary team, in the tsunami region since Dec. 26, says George Hoff, director of newsgathering at the public broadcaster.

Hoff says the initial call came to him at 7 a.m. on Boxing Day and the network had its first full hour on the disaster by 11 a.m. Not since the terrorist events of 9/11 or the Iraq War has one story mobilized so many media resources, he adds.

Logistically, the story is complicated by the vast geography involved – a dozen countries, including Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India, which became the main focuses of media attention. CBC started coverage with satellite and video phones, first prevalent in the Iraq War, but media consortiums soon installed satellite dishes for uplinks from the affected areas.

Other technical challenges include video formats – moving from the local standard of PAL to NTSC, for instance.

‘[Reporters] are dealing with an intensely emotional personal experience,’ says Hoff. ‘It’s a very difficult thing to document on a human level. On a technical level, you have to take everything with you. You have to assume you are sleeping on the ground.’

CanWest’s Global National has three crews in the region – in Sri Lanka, Phuket and Jakarta – and is coordinating with other reporters filing for the related CanWest News Service.

While CanWest has no bureaus in the region, the company had a ‘flying squad’ of six journalists on the ground in the tsunami region the first day, says Mark Jan-Vrem, managing director of Global National News in Vancouver.

‘This goes way beyond the regular disaster,’ says Jan-Vrem. Crews are at risk, not only from the rising disease threat but also the Sri Lankan civil war and terrorism in Indonesia, he says. Reporters say they’ve never seen devastation like this, he says, with the challenge being to try to develop coherent stories that reflect Canada and global issues.

Jan-Vrem says Global National has received kudos and criticism for ‘holding the government to task’ for its apparent tardy response to the crisis. Media pressure sped up the relief process, he believes.

From his perspective, technology has been less of a challenge than it was in the recent Gulf War. CanWest videographer Wilf Binnick, reporting in Phuket, is accessible through his Blackberry wireless device.

Like other Canadian news directors, Jan-Vrem says he hasn’t added up the cost of covering the disaster, but the expense is a lower priority than comprehensive coverage. ‘We’re not constrained by budget,’ he says, ‘but then I’ll have some ‘splaining to do at the end of the fiscal year.’

CHUM’s first television reporters landed in the region Jan. 10. CablePulse24’s dinner-hour anchor Gord Martineau and MuchMusic VJ Jennifer Hollett joined a Toronto-based Emergency Medical Services Team on its mission to distribute medical supplies to devastated parts of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Stephen Hurlbut, VP of news programming for Citytv and VP and GM of CablePulse24, says the station’s strategy has been to find the locality in the global story.

‘We must follow this on a local level,’ he explains. ‘It’s what defines us.’

Before the departure of its own journalists, the CHUM stations used feeds from CNN and Reuters that were stripped of their U.S. content and produced Canadian sidebars, including stories on the impact on Toronto families.

‘We’ve never seen a response [from viewers] like this,’ he says. ‘It’s been wholeheartedly positive. Overwhelmingly, they ask ‘What can we do?”

Robert Hurst, president of CTV News, says CTV had its first bulletin of the disaster late on Dec. 25 and its first file from the region the next day. In all, CTV has 12 people working in the region and a task force in Toronto to help coordinate coverage.

‘The media has played an enormous part in informing Canadians of the dynamics and depth of the disaster,’ says Hurst. ‘This story has deeply affected Canadians across the country. Canadians’ outpouring of giving has been extraordinary. As a journalistic organization, it’s not our object to be a telethon, but to tell the story better.’

That said, CTV is among the broadcasters raising the bar on creative strategies to tell the story.

CTV hosted a ‘Canada Cares’ theme day Jan. 11 – which focused on comprehensive coverage of the tsunami disaster across multiple television programs in CTV’s news and entertainment divisions and Discovery Channel. The initiative involved special feature stories on Canada AM, Gabereau, eTalk DAILY and Daily Planet. Throughout CTV’s coverage, viewers were reminded how to donate to relief agencies. CTV, along with its sister The Globe and Mail, has donated $75,000 to relief organizations. CTV’s union, CEP Local 79M, has donated $25,000.

CTV has also partnered with Vancouver-based music giant Nettwerk Productions to broadcast the two-hour, commercial-free Concert for Tsunami Relief Jan. 29 from Vancouver’s GM Place – an event that features the musical talents of Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne, Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida, Delirium and Barenaked Ladies, among others. Proceeds go to OXFAM Canada, CARE Canada, Doctors Without Borders and War Child Canada.

Meanwhile, CHUM raised more than $3.2 million for the Canadian Red Cross through its CHUM Disaster Relief Day national media blitz on its 32 radio and 33 television stations Jan. 5. CHUM itself donated $100,000 to the Red Cross.

On Jan. 9, Rogers Media-owned Omni Television hosted a two-hour, commercial-free fundraising appeal for Canadians for Tsunami Relief.

‘We’re pleased to respond with Omni’s substantial strength in multilingual/multicultural communications in full support of this international humanitarian effort,’ says Madeline Ziniak, VP and station manager.

CBC was scheduled to host the commercial-free primetime disaster relief telethon Canada for Asia Jan. 13. Luminaries for the three-hour spectacle included Margaret Atwood, Bryan Adams, Don Cherry, Cynthia Dale, Blue Rodeo, Anne Murray, Gord Downie, Oscar Peterson, Bruce Cockburn, Barenaked Ladies, Daniel Lanois, Rush, Jann Arden, Tom Cochrane and Murray McLauchlan. Céline Dion taped a contribution in advance. CHUM’s MuchMoreMusic and MTV Canada will carry the feed.

-www.cbc.ca

-www.canada.com/globaltv

-www.ctv.ca

-www.chumlimited.com/television