All eyes are on the Murdochs, the media is eagerly awaiting the next chapter in the phone hacking saga, while in the horn of Africa something momentous is taking place. Famine is spreading, and people are dying from starvation - something that shouldn't be happening in this day and age while we are sitting in our comfortable bourgeois homes, swamped by updates on the News of the World scandal. As hunger strikes, thousands of Somalians are escaping on foot each day to the world's largest refugee camp in Kenya. With eleven million suffering from the effects of a drought-related food crisis, how can we not question the validity of the avalanche of coverage concerning the Murdoch family? Yes, it is important, but does it not pale in comparison to what would be the equivalent of half the Australian population facing starvation, amongst them two million malnourished children?
With famine officially declared in South Somalia, Unicef chief, David Bull, unable to withstand the media's perverse prioritising, finally spoke out. Buying out full page spreads in local UK newspapers, Bull inserted an advertisement in the form of an open letter.
"I am writing to ask for your support in moving the news agenda on.
The story about phone hacking does matter, but there’s another, far bigger and vital story that’s going under-reported."
As a citizen of not just our own country, but the world, we have a responsibility to act now, because:
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Pictures from http://jonslattery.blogspot.com/ and lolsnaps.com
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