SN, you make some very good and profound points.

First off, I empathize completely with your feeling toward giving to charity, but realize that you are not doing it for yourself, to make yourself a better person, but because you are trying to help others. At least, I HOPE that's the reason... I kid.

When you give to charity, you are giving a piece of yourself, whether it's money you have, possessions you own, or time itself, and that in it's own way can be far greater even in small doses then doing nothing at all. If you don't have enough money, but have some time, see if you can volunteer locally somewhere, where they're organizing supplies to be sent to help those in need, or even, to help at a local soup kitchen. Something I fear greatly is that while this disaster is making headlines, the local troubles will be swept under the carpet and we'll turn a blind eye to our own poor and less fortunate, so working to help those folk as well is just as noble a duty in my mind.

As for the media, it is what it is. In this day and age, we, meaning the masses want access to everything. We want to be shocked and appalled because it makes us watch longer. It's a double edged sword because while it can de-sensitize us to the horrors of this situation, it also can mobilize us by letting us know it is in fact happening and thus we can hopefully react and do something about it. Media will always be giving us this very problem as the more we see and know, the less we'll be shocked by it, but hopefully, the better prepared and knowledgable we'll be to help and remedy the given situation.

Take care all.