Poynter on the Record

Since her first trip to the Darfur region of Sudan in Africa in October 2004, Mia Farrow has told the story of the genocide on CNN, to People magazine and, most recently, in an Op-Ed for the Chicago Tribune that ran under the headline "Blood Flows as Red in Chad as in Darfur."

As a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, she estimates having given thousands of interviews recounting her witnessing of the ethnic cleansing of non-Arabs being executed by the Janjaweed, an Arab militia whose name translates as "devil on horseback." Late last month, she returned from a trip to Chad, Sudan's western neighbor, where she found the atrocities that were once contained to Darfur had spread across the border. ...

... In the tradition of UNICEF activists like Audrey Hepburn, who reminded the media and government of the plight of starving children in Africa, Ms. Farrow and other Hollywood stars like Angelina Jolie and George Clooney keep humanitarian crises on the world's, and journalists', agendas. Ms. Farrow admitted that the media has shown an increase in interest in Darfur, but believes there could be more coverage.

Bob Steele, the Nelson Poynter Scholar for Journalism Values at the Poynter Institute in Florida, agreed with Ms. Farrow that the media should pay closer attention to Darfur, but said the issue of balancing international coverage is complex and that the situation in Iraq has naturally commanded attention from reporters and resources from news organizations.
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