Television, as the world's most powerful mass medium, was a key player in covering the unfolding humanitarian crisis across Asia

Disaster struck on a typically 'lean news' day for many media organisations, as it was during the end of the year seasonal holidays. But media networks everywhere were quick to mobilise themselves. As television stations scrambled to get their own news reporters and camerapersons to the multiple scenes and locations impacted, some of the early, dramatic visuals came from holiday-makers. Some had captured dramatic moments on their personal video cameras even as they struggled to save their lives and families.

As Danny Schechter, media watcher and blogger-in-chief of MediaChannel.org, remarked: "This is not 'reality television'. This is reality on television".

This reality on television was not just confined to covering the disaster all its horror. By bringing visuals and stories to the living rooms of tens of millions of families in countries not directly impacted, the medium was largely responsible for inspiring ordinary people (and later their governments) to come to the aid of affected countries and people. This once again demonstrated what Bernard Kouchner, former French health minister and first UN governor of Kosovo, once said: "Where there is no camera, there is no humanitarian intervention."

Read Danny Schechter's blog on the 'Media Tsunami'

Read Sir Arthur C Clarke's essay on media, ICT and tsunami