From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:SOMALIA: U.S. television networks not far behind troops
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 07:36:47 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: Africa, east
Title: SOMALIA: U.S. television networks not far behind troops


an inter press service feature

by jim lobe

washington, dec 4 (ips) -- the up to 30,000 u.s. troops who are
expected to be deployed imminently to somalia will be accompanied
by u.s. television news ''anchormen'', the three major television
networks have announced.

it will be the first time ever that daily u.s. news broadcasts
will be ''anchored'' from sub-saharan africa, according to
scholars who told ips thursday they felt somewhat ambivalent about
what is sure to become a major media event.

''it's good whenever africa gets major coverage,'' said jo
ellen fair, who teaches communications at the university of
wisconsin at madison.

''but i'm afraid we're going to get coverage that will actually
reinforce media stereotypes about africans...without any
understanding about somalia's context and complexity,'' she said.

as of late thursday, cbs had already dispatched its star
anchorman, dan rather, to somalia, while nbc anchor tom brokaw,
was scheduled to leave new york after thursday night's regular
news broadcast, nbc said.

and while abc anchor peter jennings has no plans to travel, ted
koppel, the anchor of the network's popular 'nightline' programme,
is planning to be in mogadishu by monday for a full week of
broadcasts.

''it could be a good effort,'' said jeff cohen, director of the
media-criticism group 'fairness and accuracy in reporting' (fair),
''but we have to worry about what images will be transmitted back
home.''

''i'm afraid that the story line will be: 'here come the white
guys to the rescue of poor, starving black africans','' he said.
''if true to form, we will hear very little about u.s. and western
economic policy on african economies and development.''

''after all, what is happening in somalia has a lot to do with
the destabilisation of the horn (of africa) that took place in the
70's and 80's when it was a battleground in the cold war,'' said
fair. ''i'm not sure we'll hear much about that.''

the sudden spotlight on somalia follows months of the u.s.
media generally ignored worsening situation there. (more/ips)

somalia: u.s. television networks not far behind troops(2)

somalia: u.s. television (2)

despite early warnings of famine last december by relief
agencies when factional fighting broke out in mogadishu after the
ouster of former president siad barre in early 1991, television
networks were slow to react, according to andrew tyndall,
publisher of tyndall reports, a television news monitor.

he said combined somalia coverage on the three major u.s.
television networks during all of 1991 totaled three minutes. this
year, up to july, when a prominent u.s. senator visited the
country, total coverage came to 11 minutes.

that corresponds to statistics recently compiled by a state
department office showing that reporters raised no questions about
somalia at the daily department briefings between april and august
this year.

the turning point came in august when the administration of
president george bush ordered the u.s. military to start sending
in relief supplies to famine-stricken areas of the country.

''we decided that, rather than waiting around for a reporter to
ask about somalia, we'd make a daily announcement about progress
in the relief operation,'' one state department official said.

tyndall told ips the networks devoted 35 minutes to somalia
during august, although that fell to nine and three minutes in
september and october respectively.

''the question is ''what took them so long,'' said cohen?
fair's monthly publication 'extra' recently carried a story titled
''hunger in africa: a story untold until too late''.

the rise in coverage was not an unmixed blessing, however. in
october, the 'washington post' ran a story, entitled 'pests amid
famine', which chronicled complaints by relief workers in somalia
about media insensitivity and diversion of scarce vehicles and
other equipment.

one example cited in the post was the case of a television
crewman who each morning ''took to roller-blading through the
streets of mogadishu wearing a t-shirt with an imprint of a naked
woman on his chest''.

in what was touted as a major breakthrough in media coverage of
africa just last month, nbc sent its morning news anchor, bryant
gumbel, to zimbabwe to broadcast one week's worth of his 'today'
shows from the 'dark continent'.

an african-american himself, gumbel had worked for 10 years to
get nbc to do the show there in part to counter what he called
''the terrible images'' the u.s. public have of africa as
primitive, savage and wild. (more/ips)

somalia: u.s. television networks not far behind troops(3-e)

somalia: u.s. television (3)

his initiative was widely praised at a recent u.s. africa
studies association meeting in seattle, washington, although some
scholars criticised the decision to anchor the broadcasts from
victoria falls and a nearby game park and to have gumbel dressed
in shorts and other clothes which appear to have been bought at a
'banana republic' chair store.

in that respect, fair worries that the images from somalia will
also tend to bolster stereotypes of africa as a place of ''danger,
exotic nature, and violence''.

wunyabari maloba, a history professor at the university of
delaware who has written about media coverage of the mau mau
movement in his native kenya, shares similar concerns.

''there are many dangers to this enterprise,'' he told ips
thursday.  ''we may get the impression from those television
images that somalis are inherently violent and incapable of taking
care of themselves.''.

''if they can't get to the complexities of the situation, they
are likely to fall back on precisely those stereotypes which
reinforce the negative images that already exist in the american
mind,'' he said.

cohen said he was concerned that the real reason for the sudden
rush of media anchors to somalia was the involvement of the u.s.
military.  ''it must be the military angle which has motivated
this,'' he said.

''it's a knee-jerk reaction that when the troops land in some
foreign place, the media stars salute and run in behind.''

fair agreed, but suggested that the coverage may be more about
how the united states sees itself than about africans.  ''face it,
the media will be showing us what good-hearted people we
are.''(end/ips/jl/yjc/92)
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