News media: just a bad action movie

Little Black Box
    By Alex DeMille

International news, seen through the frenetic eye of the American media, is something akin to a bad action movie: it's got frantic scene changes, little story development, shallow narration, and an empty feeling when it's all over.

Scene one. It's a quiet evening in Belgrade. The bad guys are huddled in their shelters, scheming for tomorrow's Kosovar-oppressing festivities. Suddenly, a great roar pierces the night silence. American and British fighter planes, streaking across the horizon like silver bullets, reign righteous destruction on the villain's war machine. Bombs fly. People die. Take that, Slobodan, you evil bitch.

Scenes two through 10 go about the same way, with a sprinkle of finger-wagging condemnation by the world's leaders as a touch of added drama. Different amounts of people die, different things blow up, but it's the same idea.

Before Scene 11—in which Milosevic gives up and war-torn refugees return to what's left of their scorched homeland—is even finished, the camera turns away. Now there's some stink about China and nuclear weapons. But soon that gets boring; it involves too much politics and not enough answers. Hey, what's this United Nations-sponsored democracy vote in that place called East Timor all about? Looks cool. Indonesian militia are pouring into the province and blowing defenseless people away! Quick, roll camera!

What most spectators don't realize is that this current scene-stealing massacre in East Timor has been going on since 1975. For almost 25 years, the Muslim government of Indonesia has been oppressing the predominately Christian populace of East Timor, killing about a third of the population. As if this is not bad enough, the military-backed Indonesian government has used weapons supplied by America to carry out their murders. Even the NRA would have a problem with this flagrant disregard for gun control.

I'll be the first to admit that I had never heard of East Timor until about a month ago, despite what was obviously happening there for so long. And I'm pretty certain that after a month or so I will never hear of the place again.

And what of Kosovo? The body of the last massacred refugee had not even thudded to the ground before the media turned its frenzied eye away. The country is in chaos. Kosovar children whose parents were killed either by U.S. bombs or Serb militiamen live among the rubble and ashes of their villages, scrounging for junk and cigarettes to sell in the cities so they can get money for food. Their way of life has devolved into dog-eat-dog lawlessness. Despite the presence of peacekeeping forces, the country is largely in a state of anarchy, and we are at least partially responsible for it. But who cares? Kosovo is yesterday's news. There's a new headline now. To Americans, "Crisis in Kosovo" (as Fox News dubbed the Kosovar war) was a temporary distraction—a daily melodrama as regular and as inevitable as an episode of Friends. It was entertainment as well as real-life tragedy, and when the script ended and the bombing stopped, all that was left was dust, rubble, and homeless families. Tragedy, yes. But drama, no. It was time to move on.

Let us not forget Iraq, another nearly forgotten conflict. We have been engaged in an air war with that sandy little dictatorship since late December 1998 when Operation Desert Fox, which should be seen as nothing but a spectacular U.S. foreign policy failure, forced all of the U.N. inspectors out of the country forever. U.S. and British forces strike Iraqi ground defenses almost on a daily basis, but when was the last time you heard it reported in the news? And remember all of those chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction that seven months ago had to be purged from Saddam's arsenal immediately? If they were around back then, they're certainly around now. Yet nothing has been done. Either the "threat" was bogus to begin with, or we are now at even greater risk because of America's foolish air strike. Either way, the public is being deceived.

Why is the voice of international news so fickle? Conflicts do not end with the dropping of the last bomb or with the re-turn of the last refugee. America supported a murderous regime in Indonesia for 25 years, yet bombs one in Serbia at the drop of a hat. To the average American, Slobodan Milosevic did not exist until the American government demonized him with a carefully constructed peace agreement that they knew full well he would never sign. The media fell right into step, painting a black-and-white picture of an intricate conflict that started decades ago. The crisis in Kosovo existed long before "Crisis in Kosovo." Through inefficient and selective coverage of international events, American intervention is molded into a viable and consistent policy that is only a fantasy.

Just don't keep that camera rolling.

Recent Herald Columns by this Columnist:
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• Pining for a real conspiracy, 9/17/99
• Coping with foolishness after Columbine, 9/3/99

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