As you know, Sandie, Ross and myself have been working hard to promote the wine auction since news of the earthquake broke last month. The response from the winemakers and from many others in the wine industry has been amazing. Humbling, in fact.However, getting publicity for the WINE FOR HAITI auction in newspapers, magazines, radio and TV has proved very difficult over the past few weeks, even for the professional PR companies who have been helping us.
The problem, we're told, is that "HAITI JUST ISN'T NEWS ANY MORE..."
I think the poor bastards who are now living in tent cities with no food, no water and no sanitation would beg to differ: it's been just four weeks since their lives were decimated, and already they have been consigned to the "no story" pile. I don't know about you, but frankly, that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth...
And classing the disaster as "over" is really turning a blind eye to the horror which is to come.
The earthquake itself was bad enough, but I can promise you that the impending disaster -- the disease, disability and blindness which will spread and become rife through lack of sanitation when the rains come and they're wading knee-deep in a toxic "soup" because there's no sewerage system -- that disaster and the effects it will have on the lives of tens of thousands more people over the coming months (many of them children) is something which they will be dealing with for many years to come.
A million and a half people have been made homeless. And now they're living cheek by jowl under tarpaulins and bits of corrugated iron: precious little food, no running water and not toilet between them. Can you imagine?
And can you imagine how disgusted I am to be informed by news editors (who will remain nameless) that this is a NON-STORY? One of these DOGS even had the temerity to tell me that his BIG STORY for the week was "Sydney bus fares" and that's why he couldn't spare any room on any of his six pages of editorial space. I'm just glad we were talking on the phone and not in the same room -- I don't think I would enjoy prison food.
What's interesting is that the Haiti disaster is still news in the USA (where our friends at PalatePress have had stories published in national daily newspapers and had segments on major radio stations).
It's still news in the UK too.
So why not Australia?
Even the professional charity organisations like the Red Cross and World Vision are having to admit defeat when it comes to getting publicity for the cause and one of their representatives told me that they have given up promoting the Haiti disaster here because they just cannot get anywhere with the press.
But it's not that people don't care -- clearly we do! The response from our winemakers in donating wine to the cause has been nothing short of phenomenal. So what's the deal with the embargo on Haiti news? Personally, I don't think our press have their finger on the pulse if they think we don't care about Haiti. And I'm not keen to have my news dictated to me by news editors who think that the price of local bus fares is more important than people's lives.
Right now we have $65,000-worth of of premium wine in our Sydney warehouse, and try as we might, we just CANNOT get the word out. We've been doing our best -- working 14-hour days to make the auction a success -- but I have to admit that we're struggling.
That's not an admission of defeat, mind you -- we're still kicking and screaming and doing everything we can to tell people about it -- but we need as much help as we can get.
But what can we do about it? What can we try that hasn't already been tried?
Well, you could call your local newspaper for one thing. We have sent numerous press releases and made a lot of phone calls, but we're not prepared to take "no" for an answer.
Another thing you could try is TALK BACK RADIO: phone your local station and tell them about the auction. Or just encourage people to donate to the Red Cross or to World Vision.
It's easy to forget about disasters. It's easy to ignore them.
But we're better than that. Aren't we? We do care. Don't we?
The one thing which has worked best for us in getting the word out so far? The shining light? YOU GUYS! Our faithful monkeys. Where would we be without you? Your support has been overwhelming!
Here is a list of some of the websites who are displaying a WINE FOR HAITI BANNER like the one at the top of this blog (GET YOURS HERE!) to help spread the word:
- JESTER HILL WINES
- LONELY GRAPE
- OLIVER HILL
- WINE COMPANION
- WINE INDUSTRY JOBS
- WINE INDUSTRY CLASSIFIEDS
- EMPIRE AUCTIONS
- MILLDALE ESTATE
- WINDOWS ESTATE
- GLAM ADELAIDE
- NEAGLES ROCK
- PALATE PRESS
- WINELIBRARY TV
- ZOQY.NET
Cheers!
Matt
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