BRE – consonance in coverage is very important i news media, for sure. But I also think tragedy/negativity, and extreme trauma, would normally dominate this. 400 people killed in one day, on Christmas day no less, should make the news – it would if it occurred in Europe or the USA.

As for global media differences, quite a few studies have shown that they still focus on elite nations – even in Africa reporting has often been criticised for focusing too much on the USA and Europe.

I’m starting a blog now which is going in-depth into this, I’d appreciate any involvement from you guys and this needs to be all over the net.

It is important to put pressure on Western countries such as USA and Israel, since their behaviour in the ‘war on terror’ is utilized to legimitize human rights abuses and restrictions around the world.

Also, the Gaza and DRC conflicts are not entirely separate. The Israeli state intelligence apparatus propped up the Mobutu dictatorship for years, laying the foundations for further conflicts in the country. Israeli interests are actively involved in the plundering of DR Congo’s natural resources, in liason with European actors.

http://gaza-peace-n-freedom.blogspot.com/2009/01/michel-hamas-is-responsible.html

Perhaps people would be more interested in what is happening in the DRC or in other parts of Africa if international media would give it the same type of coverage as it gives to the Middle East. I believe people are interested in following stories that they are familiar with, they know the background of, etc. and so how can they be interested in what they are ignorant about. For more on that, I recommend to everyone this post in Ethan Zuckerman’s blog which was written over two years ago but in my opinion still holds true today. BRE, I see you commented on it as well, and although you raise very good points I’d have to agree with Ethan’s answer:

The question for me is not whether it’s possible for people to get information on DRC – it’s whether they will. I would like to see news outlets have less of a monofocus on the current crisis in [Lebanon - substitute with Gaza]

And your point about Western media being the only one reporting on African conflicts, or giving them a somewhat decent coverage, misses what the last two bloggers quoted in this post were trying to say: why is international media (not just Western, but media in general) don’t give the same type of space and resources for correspondents that they give to the Middle East. I don’t think any of them meant to say that there was no coverage whatsoever of the DRC, but simply to compare the two conflicts.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/DRCONGOSOS/

Thankyou

Paula

The reasons for differences in reporting are many. I believe the Israeli-Palestine conflict(s) garner more attention and coverage from international news media because signficantly more readers, viewers, and listeners are interested in the outcome of those battles vs. what is presently happening in the DR Congo. Commerical news companies have to make money by selling advertising and to a lesser degree subscriptions, so big audience numbers are key to their business models.

Of course one could criticize the international press and news media about how they report upon each of these important stories, but to single out Western media companies as providing poor or no coverage of the recent LRA atrocities against civilians in the DRC is bordering on ignorance___at the least it is an obvious attempt to distort the facts.

Practically all of the information that I have read and viewed online about these killings has been from Western news sources, not Eastern news sources or whatever the opposite of ‘Western news’ is supposed to be in the minds of some people. Reuters, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC News, The IHT, all have covered the story. Name me 5 non-Western commercial news sources that have done a better job than these respected news sources I’ve listed above (not you Elia, but the anti-Western media whiners who may be reading this comment).

This Italian missionary working in the wild, wild East of the DRC and screaming “SCANDAL!” writes “In Gaza, Israelis have just massacred more than 400 Palestinians in a week…”___ this guy has just blown any chance of objectivity in his reporting on the crisis by leading with such a d–b-ss statement as that. The (presumed) French author at ‘Rue 89′ is off-the-wall in his use of a similar statement in his post, “If an Israeli death is worth several Palestinian ones, how many Congolese deaths are worth a Gazan shroud?”. Who are these guys and what are they trying to sell? Objectivity? Ich bitte dich! Have you ever read or seen a report about Palestinians in Gaza (or anywhere eles in the Middle East) taking to the streets to protest for the rights of victims of war atrocities in the eastern Congo? Non!

Try an online news search using the terms “Congo, LRA, mass killings, massacres” and see for yourself if the Western press and news media have ignored the recent LRA killings in the Congo. Try the same search in languages other than those spoken in Western countries just for kicks. See what I mean? Non?

People need to give the better news media professionals (journalists, editors, photographers, publishers, and support staff) a break. It is important that we learn to recognize and acknowledge good journalism when we see it (media literacy) whether it is coming from seasoned professional journalists working for big news organizations or from independent and amateur citizen journalists working hard online and in the blogosphere.

Nonetheless, thanks for the DRC update Elia, it was very useful for my own personal interests.