09/18/2007
Increased Media Coverage of Global Crises
by Global Reconciliation Commission, Diocese of Misso
Concerning: Increased Media Coverage of Global Crises Submitted by: Taken from the Global Reconciliation Commission, Diocese of Missouri
Concerning: Increased Media Coverage of Global Crises
Submitted by:
Taken from the Global Reconciliation Commission, Diocese of Missouri
BE IT RESOLVED THAT THIS ______ CONVENTION OF THE DIOCESE OF ________ call upon television outlets within the diocese’s boundaries to increase coverage of global crises and the U.S. response to them, particularly
-efforts to realize the Millennium Development Goals
-the ongoing peace process between north and south Sudan
-the ongoing genocide in Darfur
And be it further
RESOLVED, That this convention call on all television network affiliates to convey to their parent companies the desire of Episcopalians in this diocese to receive greater and more in-depth coverage of these issues and situations
And be it further
RESOLVED, That the secretary of this convention send a copy of this resolution to every television station within the diocese’s borders, to the programming offices of CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and FoxNews and to the news divisions of NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX.
And be it further
RESOLVED, That all congregations and individuals in the Diocese of ________ are strongly urged to lobby their local news media to increase the breadth and depth of coverage of these issues.
RATIONALE
A critical part of living out our baptismal covenant in this world is being educated and informed about what is happening in this world. Roughly three-quarters of Americans get their information from broadcast or cable television. No other source of information—not newspapers, magazines, or the Internet—comes close to the power of television to inform the public.
An estimated 2 million people died in the latest conflict in Sudan that is currently being held in truce by a fragile peace accord. Estimates of those who have died in Darfur range between 80,000 and 400,000, with Amnesty International estimating thata 50,000 having died from violence. Every three seconds a child dies needlessly somewhere in the developing world of treatable and preventable causes – that’s 30,000 children a day dying.
President Harry Truman once said, “’If you give Americans the facts, they will do the right thing.” Americans are a compassionate and generous people – when we are informed of disasters like the tsunami and hurricane Katrina – we respond. Put simply, if television does not cover the genocide and civil war in Sudan and the crises the Millennium Development Goals are trying to address, they do not exist in the minds of many Americans. If they do not exist in the public’s mind, there is no sense of urgency and no public pressure on world leaders to do anything to stop the killing.
The public grants the media the right to use its airwaves for commerce and profit. The public should expect at least moderate attention to consequential world developments in return.
Compare coverage of three entertainment-related or tabloidesque stories in June, 2005 with coverage of the ongoing crises in Sudan which have killed more than two million people.[1]
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| Segments discussing Sudan in June 2005 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 47 | 41 | 23 |
| Segments discussing “Runaway Bride” in June 2005 | 45 | 38 | 85 | 36 | 98 | 183 |
| Segments discussing Michael Jackson case in June 2005 | 468 | 614 | 526 | 878 | 1,753 | 2,009 |
| Segments discussing Tom Cruise in June 2005 | 190 | 321 | 352 | 199 | 213 | 259 |
An even starker specific example is this: On June 21, the BBC reported (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4114374.stm) that rebel and government forces were battling in north-eastern Sudan and that there were heavy casualties on both sides. On June 24, the BBC reported (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4618313.stm) that Sudanese planes dropped bombs for the second day in a row in this same area maiming several civilians.
During this same period of time ABC, CBS and NBC failed to provide any news segments on Sudan, while CNN, FOX and MSNBC issued a total of nine reports on the violence in Sudan. What did they choose to air instead: 322 segments on Tom Cruise; 209 segments on Michael Jackson; and 84 segments on the “Runaway Bride”.[2]
At this convention, we as a diocese are reaffirming our commitment to the realization of the Millennium Development Goals. Part of our commitment to these goals and these people should be to make sure the stories are told so that Americans can be moved to act out of the compassion we have shown so often in the past when facts were made available to us. Through this resolution – and through the personal actions of congregations and individuals springing from it – we can send a message that we desire to be informed, not entertained, by our news.
[1] The research for the June 2005 analysis was conducted using the TVEyes media tracking service (www.TVEyes.com). The numbers reflect keyword searches for program segments. Each segment is a 5 minute-block of television programming. A news-story greater than five minutes in length therefore would be tracked as 2 or more segments. Where a particular network aired a segment more than once, the segment was counted as many times as it aired. Segments were counted where there was any discussion of the applicable keywords. Our analysis tracked 24 hours of coverage on the six networks. For ABC, CBS, and NBC we tracked the flagship affiliates WABC, WCBS, and WNBC in New York City (this tracking included mentions of the keywords in local programming). The same methodology was used consistently across the four tracked stories and the six tracked networks. The tracked keywords were: “Sudan” and “Darfur” for stories discussing Sudan; “Runaway Bride” for segments discussing the Runaway Bride; “Michael Jackson” for Michael Jackson stories; and “Tom Cruise” for Tom Cruise stories.
[2] This information, as well as other information for this rationale, comes from www.beawitness.org.
