The best coverage I've seen--by a longshot--has come from the Newsweek. Honestly. From the magazine:
Rescue teams have to deal with the Indonesian military, which has committed gross rights abuses in Aceh, and has a well-earned reputation for corruption.
[...]
At the time the tsunami hit, Aceh had become a virtual fiefdom of the Indonesian Army. Commanders ran business empires, and oversaw smuggling, illegal logging, protection rackets and extortion schemes.
[...]
The military's initial response to the tsunami was, by many accounts, apathetic. NEWSWEEK's first reporters in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, saw groups of armed soldiers loafing in the shade, smoking cigarettes as relief planes lined up on the tarmac at the capital's small airstrip. Their commander occupied an air-conditioned VIP lounge where he waited for senior visitors from Jakarta. Rotting bodies littered the streets, yet the most pressing concern for the brass was protocol. Commanders refused to coordinate relief efforts with the first official sent by the Welfare Ministry, deeming him too junior.Profiteering is rampant. On a New Zealand military cargo flight from Aceh to Jakarta, about half the "refugees" being carried out were well-dressed people who paid up to $80 to Indonesian military screeners to be allowed on the plane.
Update: The wires are reporting that Indonesia has offered Achenese rebels a cease-fire. (There have been earlier reports that Indonesia's civilian leaders want that but the military won't go for it.) And in a more concrete development: Indonesia's military has told international aid workers not to travel beyond the capital and one other city. The military said it's to protect aid workers from rebels. But the rebels have never attack aid workers and the workers themselves say they're not concerned.
And the media angle: How is that Newsweek, CW-central, is so forward-leaning and kicking its competitors tushes? Probably answer: The guy who wrote the piece speaks Indonesian and has visited Aceh plenty of times. Just another example that local knowledge, especially language, is invaluable--and rare--for international reporters.
Related: That's why the New York Times and others policy of rotating reporters in and out of Baghdad every three months, while understandable from a human perspective, has an enormous cost in terms of coverage.
