I saw Time’s Top 10 Underreported Stories of 2009. A couple really caught my attention, of which I completely agree they were underreported. But maybe that’s simply because I felt other stories were overreported. Among the list are Nigerian Blood for Oil, Ethic Unrest in Iran, and Obama Allows Faith-Based ‘Discrimination’. But most notable is probably the last story: Experimenting with Children, about testing genetically modified grains (golden rice) on humans in China, including children as young as six. And that, knowing the grain was not even cleared for human consumption.
But for the most part I see even Time’s list falls short of significant stories that truly went underreported. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) gets very little coverage. There is seemingly more press on or around Osama bin Laden (e.g. 4,500 results in CNN story search) than on DRC (424, or even Darfur at 659). Two weeks ago there was a story on the UN-backed military operation in DRC causing the deaths of 1,400 civilians in 9 months, with 7,500 girls and women being sexually abused during that time. The UN Security Council is apparently going to be voting on whether or not to continue the peacekeeping mission. I wonder how many news listeners/watchers/readers know there is a difference between Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, a.k.a the Congo. I wonder how many can locate Darfur on a map. Yet they might easily recognize the names General Petraeus or Captain Sully.
Well, consider this my end of the year attempt to get folks to think a little more about the struggles in east Africa. I tried anyway.
