Ignoring Cote d’Ivoire
It is on the brink of civil war and facing a humanitarian crisis, but the story has ranked low on the news agenda.
On the show this week: A deadly power struggle in Cote d’Ivoire, which the media are at the centre of, and the Kodak moment in the Iraq war – the media in full spin mode.
Since elections last November, clashes between forces loyal to opposition leader Alassane Outtara and President Laurent Gbagbo have been pushing Cote d’Ivoire towards civil war. Central to this conflict has been the Ivorian media, with each side taking to the airwaves to win hearts and minds and ultimately, the battle on the streets.
Yet despite the escalating humanitarian crisis, the story has ranked low on the international news agenda. In our News Divide this week we take a look at the media’s role in the struggle for power and how the story has had to fight for coverage on the global media scene.
Quick hits from the media world: Authorities in Bahrain step up efforts to impose a media blackout on the ongoing protests; post–Mubarak Egypt and the military shows no signs of changing its approach towards critical voices as a prominent blogger is arrested; former US state department spokesman PJ Crowley shares his thoughts on Wikileaks; and an editor for an opposition news website in Sri Lanka is arrested.
This week marks the eighth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s statue in the heart of Baghdad. It was the Kodak moment the world’s media had been waiting for, one that supposedly signalled victory for US forces. But appearances can be deceiving – especially those instantly transmitted by global news outlets hungry for the story – and at this particular event, there was no shortage of media presence. In fact there were so many journalists in Firdos Square that day that some analysts claim it was a co-ordinated media event, a brilliant piece of US propaganda. Listening Post’s Jason Mojica spoke to some of the journalists who were in the square that day, to hear their side of the iconic Saddam statue story.
When the video of the twin boys from Brooklyn, New York communicating with each other in baby-speak first went viral we thought about making it our internet video of the week. But then we figured that it would only be a matter of time before someone turned their baby ramblings into something a little more coherent. We did not have to wait long. In our internet video of the week two 17-month-old babies give their take on events in Libya. We hope you enjoy the show.
Listening Post airs each week at the following times GMT: Saturday: 0830, 1930; Sunday: 1430; Monday: 0430.