APPEAL SENT BY “Voice for Voiceless” ON June 29, 2009 TO CNN Management, Christiane Amanpour, Human Rights Defenders :
“We’re always told that evil happens when good men do nothing. And the question — my question as a reporter and as a witness to history is: Will we ever learn? Or will I or my children or my successors be reporting on this same kind of atrocity and inhumanity for years and years to come? This is what I don’t understand about the human race.” It is not a statement of historical past. But from CNN News story of “Voices of hope in the face of evil” by its Chief International Correspondent, Christiane Amanpour just 6 months ago (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/24/sbm.amanpour.essay/).
She went on and wrote after her experience on understanding of Genocides in Different parts of the world:
“Genocide is mass murder with the intent to wipe out a significant part of an ethnic, religious or national group. It means killing people not because of what they did, but because of who they are. It is the world’s most heinous crime.”
Based on her trip, CNN Presents Christiane presented a world class 2 hours documentary on “Scream Bloody Murder” (http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/scream.bloody.murder/).She concluded saying “So thank goodness for the few good men and women who summon the courage to do something in the face of evil, to stand up and confront it. They give me hope.”
These all happened by the end of 2008 and early 2009 and many peace loving community, human rights defenders and Tamil Community at large were very impressed. They thought atleast CNN is there to voice for them…Atleast Christiane is there to bring out to the world.
Unfortuantely NOTHING HAS HAPPENED DURING THE MASSACRE OF AROUND 50,000 TAMIL PEOPLE JUST WITHIN FEW MONTHS. IN THIS CASE, THERE WERE MANY MANY REAL TIME VIDEOS UPDATED IN THE “CNN IREPORT”, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MAILS SENT TO CNN, CHRISTIANE, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WERE PROTESTING ON EVERY CITY IN THE WORLD. STILL CNN WAS SILENT. EVEN THEN THEY WERE TELECASTING “Scream Bloody Murder” – 2 HOURS SHOW.
NOW it is another story that shocked the world – CNN BANNED “G – WORD” (i.e. Genocide) FROM THEIR TELECASTS. In an Interview with Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/features/la-mag-june072009-turnitup,0,2368794,full.story), Music Icon M.I.A. Maya complained that her an hour-long interview with CNN, was cut it down to one minute show since she used the word “GENOCIDE”. That really shocked the World.
A media that was proud to stop a Genocide in Bosnia acted very cheaply in the case of Sri Lanka. What all these things tell the world? Can a media sustain its image by selectively defining its own versions. At least when human lives are being taken away in thousands, shouldn’t we raise our voice? Shouldn’t we think of stopping it.
Voice for Voiceless kindly request CNN to TAKE IMMEDIATE STEP AND RE-TELECAST M.I.A.’s INTERVIEW IN FULL. Even today, 300,000 Tamil people are living in brutal Concentration Camps without outside access. Your Telecast will show the world CNN cares for the people and values integrity.
Filed under: Burma, CNN, Crimes Against Humanity, Darfur, Detention, Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide, Genocide Stories, Human Rights, Journalist, Minority, Sri Lanka, Tamils, Torture, Truth, War Crime, refugees | Tagged: Bosnia, Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Darfur, Ethnic Cleansing, Extra-judicial_killing, Genocide, Massacres, Minority, Peace, refugees, Sri Lanka Genocide, War Crimes
