Not just ignorance
I've become increasingly impatient with the way major media ignore situations in Africa until someone makes them fashionable. I wrote earlier about the silence of most electronic journalists on the famine in Niger and it's apparent relative lack of importance compared with Tom Cruise's romantic plans and medical pronouncements. Now I have data to support my perceptions, courtesy of BeAWitness:
Each year, the nightly newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC devote a total of roughly 24,900 minutes to news. That is based on an average of 20 minutes of news in each of these newscasts every night -- the rest of the half-hour is commercials. In 2004 the ABC, CBS, and NBC network nightly newscasts aired a total of only 26 minutes on genocide and fighting in Sudan. ABC devoted 18 minutes to Darfur coverage, NBC five and CBS only three. By contrast, Martha Stewart's woes received 130 minutes of nightly news coverage. Stated differently, only about 1 in every 950 minutes of news coverage in 2004 covered the genocide in Sudan.
See the Tyndall Report at http://www.tyndallreport.com/yearinreview.php3 and American Journalism Review, "Déjà vu", Feb./March 2005 at http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3813
Data specific to June 2005 shows that
A quantitative monitoring of all news segments aired in the month of June 2005 on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FoxNews, and MSNBC shows that coverage of the genocide in Sudan was overwhelmed by stories of far less consequence including the "runaway bride," the Michael Jackson trial, and Tom Cruise's new movie and relationship with actress Katie Holmes. During a month when new fighting and aerial attacks erupted in Sudan, Americans learned almost nothing about these developments from major television news media.
- During the entire month of June 2005, the major network and cable news station -- broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week -- aired only 126 segments on Sudan.
- In contrast, these same stations aired a combined 8303 segments on the "runaway bride", the Michael Jackson trial, and Tom Cruise.
- Major news media aired 65 times as many segments on these trivial matters as it did on the fighting and genocide in Sudan.
Overview of Research and Methodology
This, by itself is inexcusable, but the networks have gone further. NBC, CBS, NBC-4, CBS-9, and Gannett (the parent corporation of CBS-9) have refused to air a commercial prepared by BeAWitness, purchased by the American Progress Action Fund and the Genocide Intervention Fund. The networks haven't given a reason for the refusal. Please add your voice to the request for a reason and a reconsideration of the decision.
