An interesting article appeared in today's Green Guide and, more interestingly, the picture of The Falling Man (no, not G Dubuya...) made the almost full-page front cover. He is of course the man who AP photographer Richard Drew captured free-falling on September 11, 2001.
The article didn't talk about that picture alone, but spoke more of the fact that newsrooms around the world often have to consider the moral side of publishing such pictures; they normally don't want to out a victim's family through more pain and sorrow.
I am against this: humans display this unusual characteristic of ignoring and dismissing worrysome facts such as violence, horror and terrorism if they don't experience it first-hand. Yes, we can sympathise and donate money to buy blankets and food for tsunami-striken or AIDS-infested communities around the world. But are we moved? Mainstream Australian news programmes tend to focus on internal affairs and often glance over world news (with the exception of SBS). In my travels around Europe I was fascinated by the fact that a. world news are half of the bulletin and not just closing shots and b. events were described very vividly, backed with video or photographic evedence.
It is only then, when you confront people with the plain and obvious truth that an impact is likely to be made: The piles of hair and bones from the massacre Jewish people, rather than pictures of the empty furnaces. Families lying dead in gutters in Sarajevo, that stills pictures of bombed villages.
The same applies to our environment crisis. As I continue to explore Al Gore's book "An Inconvenient Truth", I can't help thinking: we all heard about the floods in Europe last summer and got to see the helicopter views for 30 seconds of water gushing around. We see graphs of bad things increasing and good things reducing - but so what? 35,000 people died in Europe and I doubt that this side of the world actually comprehends what that means (except for the ones who lost loved ones).
I think it's time that our media begins to vividly show us the real news and not just the narrative. So that we don't conveniently overlook the truth...
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3 comments:
Obviously, you read The Age and Fin Review; but have you ever tried reading the Herald Sun?
The way it's written, you'd think a 5 year old wrote it; and the choice of articles is even worse, with issues that would be out of place in Women's Day taking the front and important issues such as the ones you've mentioned hardly receiving a column somewhere deep inside.
And my point? That the Herald Sun is by far the best selling newspaper in Melbourne. BTW, it's a part of the Fox empire.
I know... It's really sad. I can't bring myself to spend money for the Herald Sun.
it's the second time I this month I get to your blog via a comment you left on someone else's blog, and I like what I read. Or actually I don't like it but what you say makes sense. Mind if put I link to your blog on mine? Note that I'm not always polite enough to ask.
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