Before the digital era
In 1994, the United States (and other parts of the world) was extremely hesitant to call the killings in Rwanda a genocide because doing so would have required United Nation intervention. President Clinton said, "we did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name: genocide," when he was apologizing for ignoring Rwanda's suffering. In comparison, the crisis in Darfur has been labelled as "genocide" hopefully resulting in more United Nations' action and international support (However, I think the issue shouldn't be the labeling but rather how to stop and prevent mass killings in the future).
Citizen journalism exists because people are becoming digitally literate. Paralleled to the frequent updates about the earthquake in Haiti that Jayme discusses in his blog post, people can easily and frequently upload audio, video, text and pictures to display what is happening in Darfur. Blogs such as The Darfur Blog offer information about what is going on in Darfur currently and offer ways for people to gather more information. The quote from the homepage:
"The United Nations has called it the greatest crisis in the world. The United States calls it genocide,"
addresses how the United Nations is hesitant to label the 10 000 to 500 000 people (the exact numbers are unknown) who have been murdered in Darfur as victims of genocide. The pressure created by media attention (citizen journalism and/or credible news sites) is needed in order to enforce United Nations intervention to save innocent people.
Digital era impact
Today's digital era makes it much easier for the public to learn about what is going on in the world. It is more difficult to cite ignorance as a reason for not acting when genocide is occurring. The public is now able to find information about the genocide in Darfur if it chooses to because of the digital era. There are many sites that promote peace for Darfur and provide people with an outlet to try and make a difference. If the public chooses to, it can pressure its government to be accountable for what it has promised to do. People are only able to ignore what is happening in Darfur if they decide they'd rather be blissfully ignorant, which many people choose to do despite the digital era. The internet can only direct people to the truth, it cannot force them to open their eyes. At least not yet.
Note: Photo from ScrapeTV.
Very good commentary of citizen journalism and Darfur. I think you will want to edit this before the due date though. Although you have some very good points with a read through after what we have learned this semester you will want to change some things. I can give more advice if you want.
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