Email an article

From (enter your email address here):

Recipient (email address):	Additional recipient (optional):	Additional recipient (optional):


Your message: (optional, limit 100 characters)
I thought you might be interested in the article from the FAIR web site. The following article will be appended to your message: Hunger in Africa -- A Story Still Untold By Steve Askin Question: When does a drought that threatens millions of human lives become news that fits the front page of the New York Times? Answer: When animals die. That's the rule New York Times editors apparently followed in the week of July 5-12, 1992, when they published five substantial stories in eight days on countries ravaged by drought and hunger in east and southern Africa. Times editors seem determined to re-prove the point Extra! made a year ago (cover story, 7-8/91): that the U.S. press gives "more attention to thelives of animals -- featuring safari stories on elephants, rhinos and other endangered species -- than to the specter of death from starvation haunting millions of human beings in Africa." During the week in question, the Times published three stories totaling 84 inches on African animals, along with two less-prominently displayed pieces totalling 41 inches with a focus on African people. All the articles in this rare burst of Africa coverage were by the Times' Nairobi correspondent, Jane Perlez. The fate of 2,000 elephants was the focus of the only story to make page 1. Its headline, "Zimbabwe Kills Starving Elephants for Food", might lead one to believe that a southern African nation was launching a mad orgy of violence against harmless, helpless wildlife. Yet Perlez' own well-researched reporting actually told an opposite story, showing how Zimbabwe game wardens have successfully protected elephants against poaching. She reported that their carefully controlled culling program, endorsed by World Wildlife Fund officials, was designed to save elephant herds amidst a killing drought. To read the rest of the article, please click on the link below. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1484 This article was published on Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting's Website (http://www.fair.org).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Site designed by the May First Technology Collective