Topic: The News Media & the Crisis in Sudan Instructor: Jack
Lule On this page are the assignments for Thursday, Week 3. You should have Thursday's assignments completed by Monday, 7 p.m.
We've seen that the United States is now the lone superpower, the nation best capable of aiding humanitarian and military crises around the world. We have spent our conference time thinking about the difficult social and political questions that are raised by this status. We will now look specifically at an ongoing international crisis -- what some people are calling genocide in Sudan. I would like you to read a recent article from American Journalism Review, Déjà Vu. The article argues that, "In an eerie echo of the past, the American news media have drastically underplayed genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region just as they did a similar catastrophe in Rwanda a decade ago." Many people are not aware of the background or history of what is happening in Sudan. This companion article, The Roots of the Strife, can give you some of that background. U.S. news media, in various years, have given the issue some coverage, focusing on one particular crisis and then moving on. But mostly, coverage is hard to find. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, however, has for years tried to jumpstart a discussion of Africa in crisis. He travels often to the continent and has devoted weeks of column to what he has found. In 2006, Kristof was awarded a Pultizer Prize for his efforts. You can find copies of early columns here (it's not a tremendous amount of reading -- these are standard newspaper columns): * Kristof-Africa Kristof's effort raises interesting questions: Is he trying to make news? Is he trying to make policy? Is he trying to prod the U.S. government into action? Should he? More broadly, should the U.S. news media TRY to play a humanitarian role and try to force the U.S. government to respond to the possible starvation? Or should the U.S. news media remain distant and objective; they've covered the story already -- does their responsibility end there? b) Please email me answers to these questions: 1) Summarize and explain the AJR article, "Deja Vu." 2) What are the "roots of the strife?" 3) What did you find interesting or distinctive about Kristof's work? Do you agree with his continued focus on this crisis or was he trying to create his own "CNN Effect?" Again, you can send a Word file or use email. Send to jack.lule@lehigh.edu. Let
me know if you have questions: jack.lule@lehigh.edu. return to J/IR 246 International Communication |
