Al-Jazeera’s coverage of the Japanese earthquake

If you haven’t already heard, Al-Jazeera had (and continues to have) some of the best coverage of earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Here’s a clip from earlier showing the tsunami rushing through a populated area.

Contrast with CNN, which was apparently home to giggles and Godzilla jokes as the quake was being reported. In the last three or four big events in the world, Al-Jazeera has had the best coverage…is this a changing of the guard?

Update: Mediaite investigates and finds no evidence that a Godzilla reference or giggling occurred on CNN last night.

We did find an example of an American in Japan that made a reference that it was like a “monster movie” (which is included below) but Church handles herself completely appropriately.

Update: Mediaite found a video of the CNN broadcast in question where the anchor chuckles at something her interviewee says. And her whole tone sounds a bit more chipper than it ought to. The sing-song anchor voice might suffice when reporting non-news filler but fails when watching video of dozens of homes (possibly with people in them!) being swept along by a massive wave of water. (via @somebadideas)

• Al-Jazeera
• earthquake
• Japan
• journalism
• TV