Sichuan Earthquake Coverage

When an 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan Province in China on May 12, 2008, Sichuan Television responded with immediate action. Over the next days, producers and reporters from the local station combed through the earthquake zone to produce gripping images of life and death, the sorrow of the survivors and the heroic rescue efforts. For the first few days after the earthquake hit, the Sichuan station’s images provided media organizations around the world with first-hand accounts of the devastation. Often, its reporters took great risks to travel hours on foot to reach the epicenter of the quake, cut off from the outside by landslides and shattered roads. In China, where detailed reporting of disasters was considered taboo only a few years ago, Sichuan Television’s bold and frank coverage of the earthquake was a breakthrough for the Chinese media. It was also representative of an emerging genre of tell-it-like-it-is journalism in China. For its early, informative and compassionate coverage of the earthquake that took 80,000 lives, Sichuan Television receives a Peabody Award.