The coverage of events by the media in friendly and enemy countries shows a big discrepancy. Friendly countries are usually U.S.-backed governments in Latin America, and enemy countries are those such as communist states.
But Latin America today still has problems with violence, poverty and corruption. Guatemala and El Salvador, for instance, while receiving incessant support in terms of elections and military aid from the United States, are still plagued by guerrilla warfare and mass murders of peasants and dissidents by government and military officials.
However, these atrocities are not addressed or discussed in great detail by the media.
The percent of coverage in a Polish priest's murder outnumbered those of Latin American murders. How can one person outnumber one hundred different people? The United States and the U.S. media are obviously fixated on communist states.
Shouldn't there be more coverage of events happening in neighboring countries? Poland was a communist country backed by the Soviet Union while Guatemala and El Salvador are "fledgling democracies" supported by the United States.
The media were quick to investigate the link of high-ranking officials, even naming the possible involvement of the Soviet Union in murder. When a Polish priest was killed, the U.S. media used emotions and empathy to recount the features of Popieluszko when his body was recovered.
In Latin America, however, there was little if any coverage of at least one hundred religious victims. They were neglected because the United States needs the public's support to justify the continuous funding of the Guatemalan and El Salvadoran governments. If the U.S. press reported the brutality of these murders, the public would protest the U.S. government's continuous aid to these countries.
Perhaps the media are solely relying on government documents that do not show a comprehensive perspective. Obviously, this kind of coverage is meant to hide how U.S.-backed countries, with American dollars flowing to their economies and governments, can have a suppressed press and people living in fear and poverty.
Lasquite is a senior journalism major.