Some issues get a lot of play in the media while others go completely ignored. The UN has a site devoted to “10 Stories the world should hear more about”. Of course, one could probably compile an endless list of stories we shouldn’t be ignoring, but it’s certainly one place to start. You can read about child soldiers in Uganda, the role of women in negotiating piece and rebuilding societies (did you know that in Rwanda women hold 49% of seats in the legislature?), and the disappearance of some peoples and languages (did you know that there are languages out there spoken by less than 100 people?). These snapshots of stories are very short and the descriptions of the issues seem a bit simplistic at times, but it’s an interesting place to start for coverage of important topics that don’t seem to get much mass media attention. Alternatively, you can always head over to The Head Heeb who manages to cover a lot of issues from certain parts of the world that seem to go ignored by many. (Thanks to Neat New Stuff for the pointer to the UN site.)
{ 8 comments }
drapeto 05.20.04 at 8:20 pm
did you know that in Rwanda women hold 49% of seats in the legislature
yes.
did you know that there are languages out there spoken by less than 100 people?
i find it truly astonishing that anyone could possibly not know.
Alternatively, you can always head over to The Head Heeb who manages to cover a lot of issues from certain parts of the world that seem to go ignored by many.
many what? uh, jokes aside, an interesting alternative way is to acquire some adjectives before “mass media”, especially since so many journals have online editions now.
gary nelson 05.20.04 at 8:40 pm
I notice that the alledged bribes,graft, kickbacks, oil contracts, etc. paid by Iraq to UN officials and their relatives didn’t make the top ten list!!!
Giles 05.20.04 at 9:04 pm
“did you know that in Rwanda women hold 49% of seats in the legislature”
I think you’ll find that this isnt the result of “democarcy” but rather a consequence of th past genocide and Kagame ensuring that parliament is stacked with his loyal apointees. So are you suggesting this is a good story or a bad story? Or just interesting in an amoral sort of way?
eszter 05.20.04 at 9:39 pm
Giles – When I said that the reports were short and too simplistic, I was referring precisely to the fact that the reasons for and implications of certain figures and facts reported are more complex than they may appear. I wasn’t claiming good or bad, I was just suggesting that these topics seem to be interesting and important but don’t get much discussion. I am guilty of not knowing enough of the details myself to really comment, I’m afraid. So consider this just a pointer to what I thought may be material of interest to some.
Giles 05.20.04 at 11:22 pm
I know but this isn’t a news site you’ve pointed out – its a PR source.
So its a good start for stories that the UN wants us to know about in the way they want us to know about them. But not much else.
eszter 05.20.04 at 11:36 pm
I think it’s interesting to see what news items the UN PR people think are of interest and don’t get covered much. If then interested in more, with reasonable search skills, one can follow up for more info.
Giles 05.21.04 at 1:12 am
What would be more interesting is to see whether these 10 stories are aid supply or aid demand driven i.e. are they 10 stories the world should hear more about because people need help or 10 UN departments the world should hear more about because they want more funds.
Looking down the list its seems to be roughly one story one department. It might be interesting to see if this trend holds.
If it did, that would suggest that the UN is not overly concerned about the efficient allocation of aid effort and more interested in the expansion of its departments.
rdb 05.21.04 at 5:33 am
This weeks New Scientist editorial was on the failure to make any progress on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty in the “Preparatory Committee for 2005 NPT Review” and the minimal media comment on the subject. Here is the UN press release.
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