Media Whores and Ethics

One chapter of Famine Crimes is a case study of the 1996 crisis in the Congo (then called Zaire). During the 1996 genocide in Rwanda, people fled across the border into Zaire. Over one million externally displaced people (EDP's) were inundating refugee camps in Zaire and the media had a field day proclaiming that all of these people were in severe states of malnutrition and hunger. More than likely, the numbers were exaggerated (as there was no counting of people as they crossed the border), and in addition, people in this area had learned how to live in camps and the camps were thriving according to African standards. It was estimated that people could live for about a month before aid was desperately needed.

Aid organizations and the media made a huge mess of this situation, proclaiming that people were dying left and right and that "aid was needed yesterday" (as quoted by an MSF doctor in Famine Crimes). Organizations, military and countries were planning their mobilization and aid

The most interesting part of this, was that there weren't ANY journalists on the ground in Zaire, giving no evidence to the sensationalist news that was hitting every international paper around.

After a week of being displaced, over 600,000 Rwandans crossed back into their country having been little afftected by the food shortage. As they met journalists on the border, the journalists were shocked that there were no signs of starvation and that while some people were ill or unhealthy, the vast majority of displaced people were no worse for wear.

The above situation put the credibility of disaster relief and humanitarian organizations in question, which in my opinion, makes the entire aid community suffer. It is relevant to the "whores" comment in my last blog entry. The media are whores; sensationalizing stories to increase readership. Aid organizations can be whores too; accepting money from donors that can only be used in certain programs. Will there ever be a time when the truth evokes just as much money, support and attention as things that are exaggerated?

*case study taken from Famine Crimes, by Alexander de Waal, (1997)