HOW COULD THE MEDIA JUST IGNORE A COUNTRY IN NEED?

The media consider themselves to be the Fourth Estate, a force in society that helps create a balance; that is a link between the people and the power. While this sounds like the media always have the public's best interests at heart, sometimes this isn’t always the case.

The Cambodian genocide came straight after the Vietnam War- the first war to be strongly protested against. Half the public felt very strongly against South East Asia, and the other half felt strongly against war of any kind. It was easy for the media to state that keeping the genocide out of the media was in the public interest.

Television and photography were just starting to develop, and with it a new kind of reporting on war, that was much more confronting than what the public was used to. The Cambodian genocide produced some horrific images that would have certainly distressed audience members. Even now as a desensitised viewer of Generation Y, I found a lot of the images quite confronting. But does this mean that they shouldn't be shown? If it’s really so difficult to just look at these images, imagine being the ones in the picture! It is only with bringing issues and events of this nature to the forefront of public interest that we can make a difference in the world.

Political interests drive media coverage more than nearly anything else (we can’t forget profits). The Cambodian genocide was driven by two very different political influences. Firstly was our government who was unwilling to get involved in another war that wasn’t our own so soon after the Vietnam War had ended.

Secondly, Pol Pot was also very against internationals entering his country so it was difficult for Western journalists to even enter Cambodia, let alone report on it. This had a lot to do with the severe bombings that America led over Cambodia during the Vietnam War, but also because Pol Pot didn’t want international attention over his regime. The journalists and photographers that did enter Cambodia did so at their own risk, with many of them being tortured, imprisoned and murdered.

The media has a tough job reporting on atrocities like war and genocide. It is a topic a lot of people would like to just go away- ignorance is bliss. For millions of people, who suffer through the horror of genocide, sometimes the media telling their story is the only form of justice they will ever receive. It is important for the media to tell their story, to raise awareness of what is going on in the world so that we can learn from our mistakes and move forward as a global community.

The beautiful Angkor Wat