A Half Century and Counting . . .

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.

Posted by Jeanne Edna Thelwell at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

[I originally posted this on my Serene Chef blog, but decided that it should be here as well.]

No one who is passionate about food can ignore the issues arising from the way food is produced in this country. We produce huge quantities of food -- which, undeniably, allows us to help feed people beyond our own borders -- but the cost of that is abused animals in factory farms, irradiated and genetically engineered foods, hormone-ridden beef, antibiotic resistant bacteria and, certainly not least, tasteless food.

PBS is preparing a series on American agriculture called American Heartland. This would be interesting in itself, but, surprisingly, the Union of Concerned Scientists has reason to believe that the program "will portray an entirely positive portrait of U.S. agriculture . . . Despite an in-depth approach spanning 20 episodes, the series producers appear unwilling to give time to any concerns about agribusiness, from the impact of pesticides on human health, to pollution and foodborne illness caused by industrialized meat production, to the debate over genetically engineered crops". That the series is sponsored by Monsanto and the Farm Bureau lends support to their concern. UCS is asking that viewers urge PBS to ensure that American Heartland presents a fair and complete (thought I was going to say "balanced, didn't you?) picture of the state of American Agriculture.

I urge you to join UCS in urging PBS to tell the full story.

Posted by Jeanne Edna Thelwell at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This morning, a CNN report showed a reporter Dana Bash asking Cindy Sheehan if she thought there was any hope of Bush speaking with her. Ms. Sheehan said, "Nothing's impossible," and went on to talk about the growth of "the movement".

In fact, I think the sun will turn purple before Bush speaks with her. Even if he did, we all know that nothing he says to her will begin to resemble what we now know that is the truth about the War in Iraq. That's not the point (or I think the real goal). His refusal to speak with her, his inability to face a bereaved mother and risk be asked pointed questions about the War, is the real point here.

Posted by Jeanne Edna Thelwell at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A few days ago, I expressed my irritation with the coverage journalists had given the drought/starvation situation in Niger. Today's New York Times Book Review —Bad News — contains an essay by Seventh Circuit judge Richard Posner on the state of news media in the U.S. Even acknowledging Judge Posner's conservative bent (see The Becker-Posner Blog, Judge Posner's comments worth reading.

Posted by Jeanne Edna Thelwell at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This morning CNN showed heart-rending footage of people -- adults, children, babes in arms -- dying of starvation in Niger, where drought has placed almost 4 million human lives in jeopardy. Miles O'Brien asked the reporter on the scene, "Why is it that the relief workers' warnings about the likely consequences of the drought fell on deaf ears?"

The correspondent stared for a moment, then said, "Because people weren't paying attention to Africa as they should."

I was astounded that O'Brien could ask that question with a straight face. While people have been dying of thirst and starvation in Africa, CNN and other "news outlets" have been keeping us up to date on almost everything but this. I remember the day when every ten minutes or so, I saw a story on CNN about Tom Cruise proposing to Katie Holmes. I remember hearing endlessly about Paris Hilton.

According to an article posted Sunday on CNN's website:

The warnings have been coming for months. The United Nations first appealed for assistance in November and got almost no response. Another appeal for $16 million in March generated about $1 million. The latest appeal on May 25 for $30 million has received about $10 million.

Donations jumped dramatically in the last week because of increased media attention and TV images of starving children, U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said Friday. Egeland estimated that thousands of children are dying in Niger.

When relief workers in Africa give warnings, you and I only hear them if journalists report them to us. 150,000 people have died in Niger, and "the warnings have been coming for months", but only now are news agencies actually spreading the story. Ironically, an article posted on CNN last Thursday, "How the Rich Ignored the Niger Crisis", there is not a word about the failure of journalists to cover this story.

Whose deaf ears, Mr. O'Brien?

Posted by Jeanne Edna Thelwell at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)