This essay is part of a (more or less) weekly feature on this blog that presents interesting stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, Israel and Iraq.
The UN publicized its annual list of the world's most underreported stories implying that politics, murder and sex scandals still take precedence over poverty, peace-building or economic development.
Some claim that the media doesn't cover stories from the developing world because it doesn't really affect Americans. At least not directly. In the global village, this is an increasingly shaky argument. But even so, how does this argument explain the fact that every time a pretty upper middle white girl is kidnapped and a handsome upper middle white boy is accused of acting badly, these marginal local stories hog national US 'news' programs?
Privleged lacrosse players supposedly raping a stripper makes for an easy narrative. How to improve lives for some of the billions of poor people is not. Gawking draws more readers/viewers than thinking. None of this is a revelation. That's just the way it is. Sadly, I no longer expect the corporate media to lead, but to be lead. My biggest objection is that it's borderline fraud to call such voyeurism 'news.'
"We've tried over the years to show that development issues can make good stories too -- by pointing out the human interest aspects, and by helping demonstrate that such stories can be made 'readable', 'watchable' and interesting," noted Shashi Tharoor, U.N. under-secretary-general for communications and public information.
According to the UN, the ten stories the world should hear more about include post-war reconstruction in Liberia; the new challenges faced by bona fide asylum seekers; the upcoming historic elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo; children caught in the ongoing conflict in Nepal; and the compounding effects of a drought threatening to undermine stability in war-devastated Somalia.
The list also singles out several other stories under-reported by the world media: the plight of millions of refugees living in limbo; the problems of relief efforts in the aftermath of the South Asian earthquake and tsunami; the alarming number of children in conflict with the law; the collaborative solutions that have prevented conflicts over scarce water resources; and renewed violence that threatens to undermine the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire.
1 comment:
I live abroad, but this week have been in the US and I've been able to see, regrettably, plenty of evidence to support your statements about the US media. TV news has been plastered with images of that poor Clemson student who was strangled to death. Most disgusting, however, is the way they've emphasized over and over the fact that she happened to be strangled with a bikini top (the story titled, "Bikini killer," and so on). If she'd been strangled with, say, a clothesline, I doubt they would make such an issue of it.
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