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Television "dropped the ball" by covering Michael Jackson instead of Darfur
Kristof was on "Reliable Sources," today and talked about the media's lack of coverage on Darfur.
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(Full transcript from CNN)

KRISTOF: Yeah, sure. And Sudan, I think, has done a great job about keeping journalists out simply by not giving visas. But this is a little bit different, because we can get visas to Chad, and now there are more than 200,000 people who have fled Darfur and are in Chad and are telling their stories to anybody who will talk to them. I must say that newspapers and magazines, I think, have done a better job in covering this. The people who have really dropped the ball, frankly, is television.

KURTZ: And on that point, could that possibly be because the story is kind of depressing -- many tens of thousands of people dying -- and that it's considered a ratings loser?

KRISTOF: I'm sure that's it. But if we in the media are going to ask for various special kinds of special privileges, as we do, then I think we also have to show some kind of special responsibility. And when the CBS Evening News, last year over the course of the entire year, spends two minutes covering genocide, while the broadcast networks are averaging 28 minutes covering the Michael Jackson trial, then there is something profoundly wrong.

Nicholas Kristof is challenging Bill to go to Darfur with him. The bloviator backs out with Jonah Goldberg like reasons. I guess he never heard of satellite coverage.
Kristof: (reg required)

"After Mr. O'Reilly denounced me in December as a "left-wing ideologue" (a charge that alarmed me, given his expertise on ideologues), I challenged him to defend traditional values by joining me on a trip to Darfur. I wrote: "You'll have to leave your studio, Bill. You'll encounter pure evil. If you're like me, you'll be scared ... and you'll finally be using your talents for an important cause."

A few days ago, I finally got my answer. Mr. O'Reilly declared in his column: "I do three hours of daily news analysis on TV and radio. There's no way I can go to Africa."...read on

Kristof finishes with:

"If you want to help, send e-mail to sponsorbill@gmail.com or snail mail to me at The Times, and tell me how much you're willing to pay for Mr. O'Reilly's expenses in Darfur. Offers will be anonymous, except maybe to the N.S.A. Don't send money; all I'm looking for is pledges. I'll post updates at nytimes.com/ontheground."

Teenage British soul star Joss Stone and a bald Melissa Etheridge electrified the Grammys audience with a gritty tribute to Janis Joplin.

Video

Kris Kristofferson, who wrote the Joplin classic Me and Bobby McGee, introduced the duo. Joplin died of a drug overdose in 1970, aged 27.

“It’s bittersweet,” he said. “She was so passionate about what she did.”

I found that Melissa's performance was tremendous on the Grammys because of her battle with cancer. The issue is not how close she came to emulating Janis, but the fact that she performed at all.

Land of Penny Pinchers

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
That accusation by a U.N. official, in veiled form, provoked indignation here. After all, we're the most generous people on earth ... aren't we?

No, alas, we're not. And the tsunami illustrates the problem: When grieving victims intrude onto our TV screens, we dig into our pockets and provide the massive, heartwarming response that we're now displaying in Asia; the rest of the time, we're tightwads who turn away as people die in far greater numbers....

In 2003, the latest year for which figures are available, we increased such assistance by one-fifth, for President Bush has actually been much better about helping poor countries than President Clinton was. But as a share of our economy, our contribution still left us ranked dead last among 22 top donor countries.

We gave 15 cents for every $100 of national income to poor countries. Denmark gave 84 cents, the Netherlands gave 80 cents, Belgium gave 60 cents, France gave 41 cents, and Greece gave 21 cents (that was the lowest share, beside our own).