Category | Op Ed

What the American media isn’t saying about Somalia

Published on April 28, 2009 by Matthew Cole

The piracy problem in Somalia has been going on for some time now, but of course Americans only take notice when an American ship captain is taken hostage. Suddenly this becomes an American cause. I have been wary of growing Islamist militancy in Somalia for a long time now, but the news media suddenly pays attention when money-hungry pirates (or “coast guard” according to Al Sharpton) seize an American. You know the mainstream media’s formula for newsworthy deaths, right? 1 dead American (white and female) = 1,000 dead Bosnians = 10,000 dead Indonesians = 100,000 dead Congolese. The media’s oversight of this long standing problem is a dangerous one. We all remember the day when the media covered the story of 3,000 dead Americans on 9/11. Unless the national spotlight is focused on potential threats as they come rather than as they cause problems for us, then we are likely to have many more dangerous oversights due to misdirected attention.

The piracy threat in Somalia is relatively small compared to the larger problems this country poses. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Obama administration is using the piracy as an excuse to take a more direct role in dealing with Somalia. Many Americans now believe that this is simply another case in which America unilaterally reacted to an international problem. You rarely hear in the mainstream media about the warships deployed to the Gulf of Aden by most EU countries, Russia, India and Iran. You definitely don’t hear about how China, which hasn’t deployed any naval forces beyond its coastline for centuries, has also decided to deploy warships to protect Chinese merchant vessels. Perhaps more significant for our allies is the fact that Japan, which “officially” prohibits the existence of a military, is also considering deploying warships to the Gulf of Aden. I was especially surprised when an Indian ship destroyed a pirate vessel. Of course, America also had ships deployed, but the media just now stops covering the octuplet mom and discovers an American naval presence in the region.

When piracy in Somalia is discussed by the media, rarely do you hear any mention of US air support during the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in 2006. This is where a responsible media outlet would go on to remind people of how Ethiopia invaded in response to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) seizing control over most of southern Somalia away from the UN-backed government. They would also go on to explain how Ethiopia’s decision to arrange a cease-fire (which was ignored by the ICU) with the surviving ICU militants, instead of finishing them off, contributed to the more radical al-Shabaab. The media occasionally mentions something about this mysterious group called “al-Qaeda.” They say enough about it for most Americans to know they had something to do with 9/11, along help from Saddam Hussein, Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Vladimir Putin.

I’m just kidding about the people assisting al-Qaeda, but if you watch Fox News, you might get a different impression. You would think that if al-Qaeda is bad, the media would cover the decision of al-Shabaab leaders to merge with al-Qaeda and their invitation for al-Qaeda militants to come to Somalia. The fact that many foreign militants seem to be accepting this offer should be really scary, especially considering the jihadist ideology of many of them. Of course, when CNN or Fox News covers Somalia, it’s all about eye patches, peg legs and talking parrots. Excellent sniping makes headlines. A safe haven for al-Qaeda militants doesn’t. I think that Obama would do well to use America’s attention that is currently being directed at the pirates, and use that to focus on the real national security concerns present in the same country. Rather than looking at the symptoms of a deeper problem, why can’t we have a more proactive media that focuses on tumors as they develop, or at least acknowledge them once they start causing problems?

The media’s misdirected focus would be like a reporter walking through mass graves in Rwanda to interview Angelina Jolie about her newly adopted baby. Somehow they always seem to miss the bigger picture. What should be the real story is often ignored. Let’s hope Americans decide that the octuplet mom just isn’t that interesting and start demanding a more relevant news media.