Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Iran Coverage in Mexico
The lack of attention to the vote in Iran here in Mexico has been striking. Unless I'm wrong, neither La Jornada nor El Universal nor Excélsior has devoted any front-page story space to the election and subsequent protests. It's always a bit hard to predict what foreign stories will catch the nation's fancy, and Mexico has nothing remotely resembling a national interest at stake, so from that standpoint, it's unsurprising. However, it's a major story from a vital player in the world's thorniest region, which was enough to make the Gaza invasion in January a huge story here, despite the lack of direct relevance for Mexicans. Furthermore, Mexico is on the Security Council, and events in Iran weigh on the Security Council about as much as events in any nation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
It ain't just Mexico - coverage around the region has been sporadic at best. Maybe it's a postcolonial region's solidarity with the occupied territories. Or maybe beating up on Israel is just more fun.
I hate to play the Beating Up on Israel card without a specific example, but that seems like a logical cause. And it wasn't just Mexico before, right? Most of LA had robust coverage of Gaza, and the war in Lebanon before that. For whatever reason, despite Ahmadenijad's craziness, Mexicans don't feel like they have a dog in this fight. But it's even weirder for a couple of reasons; first, the parallels with the Salinas election are obvious, and second because Mexican opinion makers pay really close attention to the American media. A week hardly ever passes in which a front-page story in the Post or Times isn't mentioned on the El Universal opinion page, but I've not seen anything on Israel.
I'm wary of saying it too, but the coverage disparity speaks for itself - and yes, Mexico was far from alone in devoting serious column space to the Gaza conflict. I think it's just a fact that the Israel-Palestine issue captures the world's attention to an unparalleled degree. One small contributing factor is that Gaza occurred during the Christmas/New Year's period when there wasn't a lot of news, but still. I But yeah, the similarity to '88 does mean that you'd think Mexico of all places would find the current situation of interest.
And if I remember right, in Lebanon, the reactionw as pretty anti-Israel even before Israel planes starting crushing Lebonese infrastructure.
Another contributing factor is the visual angle. Masses of protesters are not quite as visually compelling as soldiers in war paint and explosions.
Post a Comment