How to catch the media's attention (Satire!)

It's all too obvious, isn't it? The daily suffering of large numbers of people due to war, greed and hunger has been put into the back sections of the media and the headlines and news feeds are full of reports about the idiotic deed of igniting bombs at a sports event which cost two lives (including a child's) and left many people injured and traumatized. Certainly, it's a gruesome deed, but the media are successfully blanking out the rest of the suffering still going on in the world.

The German satiric web site "Der Postillon" has therefore published a very sarcastic and acid article, very apt to put things back into perspective. Here's my English translation of the original German text:

"Syrian civil war victims plan marathon race to finally get media attention again!

Will there be more about Syria in the news again soon? Apparently, the victims of daily violence in the Syrian civil war consider holding a marathon race in order to meet the hard media criteria for headline-worthy disasters and to get more attention in the eyes of the general public. This has been published in a written statement by the event organizers.

"In the last two years, about 70,000 people died in the civil war, many among them children who could wonderfully have been used to create sappy top headlines with pictures - all in vain.", the statement reads. "Aparently, it is not enough for innocent bystanders to get between the fronts of a war. Therefore, if we have to die anyway, we want to do it for the sakes of sensation-hungry reporters during a catastrophic marathon race event."

Considering the current situation in Syria, severed limbs, dead children and shocking eyewitness accounts in the wake of such a sporting event would be almost guaranteed. "Any tabloid writer should get a hard-on thinking about this!", a Syrian father claims, hoping for more international attention for the conflict victims. Media experts are more skeptical, though. Critically, they point out, that most western hemisphere disaster journalists will only get really high when confronted with European or North American vicitms. But the organizers remain undeterred. Even if the marathon race did not bring the attention desired, the participants would still have acquired important key qualifications - namely in case they are forced to flee as well, just like a quarter of the Syrian populace already is."


While some people might think, that this satiric article is too harsh, but the truth remains: the media have shut their eyes to the daily suffering of numerous people and rather spread fear of terrorism among the western "civilized" world... perhaps media officials as well as consumers of mainstream media need this grim satire in order to re-focus on things.

Here's the link to the original German article:

http://www.der-postillon.com/2013/04/syrische-burgerkriegsopfer-planen.html