Monday, February 21, 2011

Haiti and American Media Conglomeration

The disagreement between the United States and Haiti's former president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, illustrates perfectly the U.S' dominance over the media.

The former president of Haiti, before even running for presidency, spoke against the U.S' business interest. In churches in the nation's capital, he taught the people that "capitalism is a mortal sin". To the U.S, this was inappropriate being that they valued capitalism and profits. Nevertheless, the U.S' media didn't pay too much attention to Aristide. When Aristide won the presidential election in December of 1990, many U.S newspapers - from the New York Times to the Washington Post - begin to attack him in fear that he would lead his nation to betray U.S business interest. In the Washington Post, Aristide was accused of making threats of mob violence. People reading these newspapers never really got the full story. This is one example the U.S' limited point of view in the media.



The previous situation between the U.S and Haiti may have led to a slight bias against Haiti which may be why Haitian earthquake survivors who were trying to get food were referred to as "looters" in the U.S media. Many have said that if this happened in another area, the people would have simply been referred to as "survivors".


One good thing about media conglomerates is they have a lot of power to influence. After Haiti's tragic earthquake in January of 2010, many media giants donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the nation. The Disney Company was one of them.

Speaking of The Disney Company, there's been much news of them ripping Haitian sweatshop workers off. Apparently Haitian workers only get paid 28 cents to stitch the Aladin logo onto t-shirts. Yikes! I agree, the U.S media conglomerates only want to make profits.



The Walt Disney Company rips off Haitian workers
U.S media against former president Jean Bertrand Aristide

No comments:

Post a Comment