11 networks to air 'Hope for Haiti' telethon Jan. 22

Spurred by actor George Clooney and MTV, 11 broadcast and cable television networks have signed on to air a two-hour telethon Jan. 22 that will benefit the earthquake victims in Haiti. “Hope for Haiti,” presented by MTV Networks, will air commercial-free at 8 p.m. on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT.

The event, which will raise money for five relief organizations working in the ravaged country, will be hosted by Clooney in Los Angeles, singer Wyclef Jean in New York and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper in Haiti. The effort is similar to a telethon held in 2005 to assist victims of the deadly Southeast Asian tsunami.

-- Matea Gold

Comments

[Mixy Anagel]

A Spanish radio station is also trying to put together either a telethon or a concert to support Haiti. The radio station is call La Nuava 101.9, the radio host is Piolin, of Piolin Por La Manana.

[Paul Burrell]

I really hope that people will start looking carefully at Wyclef with an eye to finding out how to politely tell him he needs to simply hand over what he's collected. Someone has made terrible decisions about his charity - it has paid him and his partners 400k for performances, rent, airtime, etc - things which would normally be donations (100k for his own performance for his own charity?) or would not be structured as conflicts of interest (buying airtime from himself...)

His current fundraising is helpful, but he has to avoid dipping his fingers in the pot, or appearing to. His star power is obviously helping get a lot of money moving.