From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Oct 19 2009 - 05:16:33 EDT
How British TV reports famine
25 years after Michael Buerk's broadcasts from Ethiopia, the documentaries
have stopped, but the starvation hasn't
Posted by Peter Gill
Monday 19 October 2009 00.12 BST
Michael Buerk describes them as "by far the most influential pieces of
television ever broadcast". The first of his two
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/bbc> BBC News reports that revealed the
horror of mass death by starvation in
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/ethiopia> Ethiopia aired 25 years ago this
Friday, with the second a day later. They prompted a huge wave of private
giving, shamed negligent western governments into action and ushered in a
new era in the aid business.
British television once played an exceptional role in questioning why
governments allowed people to die for lack of food. In October 1973,
Jonathan Dimbleby took a This Week <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/ITV>
ITV crew to the same region and his film played a direct part in the
overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie the following year. The Unknown
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/famine> Famine is nearly unwatchable in its
rawness, and would almost certainly be ruled too upsetting for today's
viewers. On the eve of the emperor's overthrow, Ethiopian television ran it
and edited it with footage of luxurious living at the imperial court. Army
officers ordered the emperor to watch it, and arrived at the palace next
morning to read him the act of dethronement.
In those days, ITV's coverage of Third World affairs rivalled the BBC's and
often outshone it. Months before Buerk's reports, Central Television showed
the <http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/documentary> documentary Seeds
of Despair and a Thames Television team reached Korem, the epicentre of the
1984 famine. I was the reporter and our focus was the grotesque mismatch
between starvation in Ethiopia and the grain mountain of the European
Community.
But things have changed. In its monitoring of developing world coverage on
British television, the International Broadcasting Trust refers bluntly to
the "collapse" of ITV's interest in international affairs. In 2003, when
Ethiopia was threatened with the worst famine in its history, Dimbleby
wanted to make a Tonight special for ITV and took the idea to a senior ITV
executive. "How many skeletons will there be in the film?" the executive
asked. "Well, I hope there will be none," said Dimbleby. The executive said
he would get back to him. That was the last he heard about it.
Again last year, there were many deaths from starvation. The crisis was
revealed not by British TV, but by CNN which was putting together a one-hour
special with Unicef.
What is to be done? In June, the International Broadcasting Trust rejected
"charity appeal" TV that created "a sense of despair and frustration" and
suggested more varied and positive images. But Africa's problems are real
and urgent, and it would be a pity if solid journalism was overlooked. So
here's an idea. What about looking hard at the whole aid business - how it
saved lots of lives but has otherwise failed so badly to make hunger history
in the past 25 years?
Peter Peter Gill is writing a book on famines, which is due to be published
next year
A child waits at a food centre in southern Ethiopia
A child waits at a food centre in southern Ethiopia. Photograph: Jose
Cendon/AFP
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----