Failure™ Magazine

Like a Good Neighbor, Disaster News Network is There

One-of-a-Kind News Organization Keeps the Public, Disaster Responders Informed.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under Life

Watching the media’s coverage of disasters is a lot like watching little kids play soccer. No one knows this better than Susan Kim, news editor for the Disaster News Network (DNN), a non-profit, online news service that covers—you guessed it—disasters. “The ball goes over here and everyone goes—aaaaahhhhhh!!!—running over there,” she says, for effect. As a result of the major media’s follow-the-pack mentality, high-profile calamities receive a disproportionate share of attention, and more than a few stories that deserve to be told fall through the cracks.

That’s where DNN comes in. Funded largely by a variety of faith-based disaster-response organizations, DNN provides disaster news to both the public and disaster-response community. “We tell the public the story, but we’re also the eyes and ears of the professional responders,” says Jim Skillington, president and founder of the four-year-old network. “And,” he notes, “we report the little disasters as well as the big ones.”

Case in point: In recent weeks, the news has been dominated by the Beltway Sniper saga, which unfolded a short drive down the interstate from DNN’s headquarters in Jessup, Maryland. But even with a major international story in its own backyard, DNN didn’t ignore other developments in the disaster world—a tornado in Corpus Christi, Texas, and an ongoing drought in the mid-Atlantic states, to name a few. “The week after 9-11 a tropical storm hit Florida and no one covered it,” says Kim. “We ran it as our lead story and ended up getting a lot of ‘thank-you’s’ from people in Florida because they felt forgotten.”

DNN also distinguishes itself by providing long-term coverage of disaster-response, with updates on stories long-since removed from the major media radar screen. “We’re the only news organization that reports a disaster from the day it happens until the day the last voluntary group leaves,” says Skillington matter-of-factly.

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