Watching TV footage of the Kenyan violence on my fave news channel - SKYnews.com, I can't but help wonder if the man they showed being beaten to death, might have escaped had the TV cameras not been there. The poor soul, involved (by virtue of being a Kikuyu) was given a rather desultory whack or two as he ran out of his dwelling, but as soon as a guy in right-field of camera view noticed this was being filmed/taped, he charged after the fellow and downed him with a huge club of wood.
SKY cameramen have been filming through roiling drifts of smoke to heighten the drama of what's going on. I can understand the need to present the media moment at its most vivid. But I notice always the escalation in violence, intensity, anger or whatever else the prevailing emotion, when the mobs realise they have the potential for being on TV. This applies globally, not just to Africa.
Maybe a greater degree of sanchin [Japanese for awareness] - in order to avoid being the catalyst in a homicide? Or is that too much to ask in the ratings-driven media feeding frenzy?
www.imbizo.com
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