300,000 Dead, 2.7 million Refugees

How good has press coverage of Darfur been?

Has it solved the problem? What lessons for Congo coverage?

-Thank you to the Basque Country Committee for the UN High Commission for Refugeesfor caring

-Thank you for inviting me to share our research at the U of Colorado’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication

• My presentation has 3 parts

1. How good has the press coverage been?

2. What good has it done?

3. Recommendations for future coverage of Darfur and the Congo

• What is good coverage?-Comprehensive coverage that includes1. Who, What, When, How hard newsplus2. Why and So What features and background

storiesand3. Quotes from people on the ground (Darfur

refugees, human rights monitors) and not only officials

-Timely coverage

• High comprehensive coverage (CC):

news papers whose home states did not influence their coverage because they had low national interest in Sudan

News daily % of total CC score

Interest in Sudan

State press

owners

US W Post 70 Low No

Fr Le Mon 66 Low No

SAfr M-G 66 Low No

US NYT 64 Low No

UK Guard 59 Low No

• Lower comprehensive coverage (CC): news papers in states with higher national interest in Sudan (water, oil, trade), state role in ownership of the press, local readership/pol constituency

News daily % of total

CC score

Interest

in Sudan

State

ownership

Readers’

political constituency

AlAhram

Arabic

49% Medium

(water, pol stab)

Yes Local, mass

readership

China Daily

49% High (oil,

trade)

Yes Global, English

People’s Dl

35% High (oil,

trade

Yes Local, mass

readership

• Variation in coverage of crimes against humanity:

• None of the dailies scored over 70% on the Comprehensive Coverage Index—room for improvement

• Five news organizations scored around 60% or higher

• When did the crisis start? When was it first covered substantially?

Rebel attack to draw attention to neglect in Feb 2003Egypt’s Al Ahram Arabic coverage Jun03China Daily (English) Aug 03S Africa’s Mail and Guardian Nov 03

11 months later: NYT, LeMonde, UK Guardian13 months later: Chinese language China Daily14 months later: Wash Post

• How many articles with over 50% paragraphs on Darfur in first 26 months?

Over 150: SAfr’s Mail and GuardianOver 100: NYT, WPostOver 50: UK Guardian, China Daily (English)

Less than 50: Arabic-language AlAhram in neighboring EgyptChinese language People’s Daily for the masses

• Did news media express editorial opinions?

Over 30% of articles: Wash Post

10-20% of articles: NYT, Al Ahram daily, Guardian, People’s Daily

10%: LeMonde

Less than 5%:China Daily, Mail & Guardian

How many articles paid attention to the causes of the crisis?

Around 30% Wash Post

Around 20% Le Monde, Guardian, China Daily, Mail and Guardian, Al Ahram Arabic, NYT

Less than 10% People’s Daily

• How often was the stereotypical perception of ethnic, tribal and racial causes mentioned?

-Most frequently mentioned by LeMonde, UK Guardian, South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, China Daily

-Regional inequity mentioned most frequently as a cause by NYT, WashPost, Al Ahram Arabic, People’s Daily

How many articles mentioned climate change as a cause of the crisis?

30-40% Wash Post, Al Ahram Arabic, China Daily

10-20% NY Times, UK Guardian

8-9% S Africa’s Mail and Guardian, LeMonde

• How many articles provided details of groups working on ending the crisis?

Over 90% China Daily, People’s Daily

Around 70% Mail and Guardian South Africa, Le Monde France, Washington Post USA, Guardian of UK

30-40% NYTimes, Al Ahram Daily

• How many quotes were from human right monitors and non government organizations as sources?

10-15% Washington Post, Mail and Guardian, New York Times

6% China Daily

0% Al Ahram Arabic, People’s Daily

• Summing up patterns1. News media from the global South

(China, South Africa, Egypt) covered the crisis earliest, but China and Egypt’s news media provided least details, scoring lowest on comprehensive coverage. Thus, the state-owned press from the global South gave least attention to negative events among one of their own.

• Patterns (contd.)

2. Dailies located in states with higher national interest in good relations with the Khartoum government (for reasons of water, political stability, oil and trade)

gave less coverage to this negative news.

• Patterns (contd.)

3. The privately–owned dailies gave more attention to Darfur than state-owned dailies constrained by their intergovernmental relationships.

• Patterns contd.• News dailies owned by the same organization

(namely, Communist Party of China) covered the news on Darfur differently for its different political-linguistic constituencies. China Daily produced for the English-speaking global community strategically provided more comprehensive coverage than the People’s Daily produced for local-language speakers who have no alternative source of news

• What good has this coverage of Darfur done?

In 1915, 1 million Armenians were killed in spite of very good coverage in 145 articles in the New York Times. The US, British and German governments did nothing to stop the genocide then.

We can hope that the Obama administration will live up to its election promises and act on Darfur now.

• The Samantha Power book (A Problem from Hell 2002) on the major genocides of the 20th century shows:

-despite graphic media coverage, policymakers, journalists and citizens are extremely slow to muster the imagination to reckon with evil

-the real reason the US did not do what it should have is lack of political will, not lack of knowledge

• Power lists the following actions that could make a difference:

-creating awareness of genocide

-highlighting activities needed to stop it

-shaming governments for inaction

• Recommendations for reporters: Use sources strategically to set the agenda for

policymakers, to initiate thinking and discussion on specific prevention, remedy and punishment options for crimes against humanity rather than reporting them only when they happen to be raised. This agenda is based on journalists having historical knowledge of what might have helped in past genocidal wars, e.g economic sanctions, freezing foreign assets, prosecuting perpetrators and closing their embassies

• Recommendations for journalism educators: produce specialist reporters with knowledge of the history of particular problems (in this case, genocide) who can suggest alternatives for action by strategic use of sources. Darfur is unresolved and the war in east Congo needs advanced analysis

• Recommendations for EACNUR:

Encourage the UN’s Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) and the Rome-based Inter Press Service to do what news organizations constrained by state politics find it hard to do.