Posted by Sarah Burrows, Legislative Assistant

A few weeks ago, the RAC’s blog had a posting citing a study showing that in 2005, broadcasts networks’ evening newscasts covered the situation in Darfur for a total of 18 minutes. ABC's evening news program had 11 minutes about Darfur over the year, NBC's had 5 minutes, and CBS's found genocide worth only 2 minutes of airtime during the course of 2005.

Last night, I was flipping through the channels and stumbled across a preview for the new episode of ER airing later in the night. Something about the scene that was showing seemed oddly familiar. It depicted a refugee camp, men riding on horseback, and a victim of rape. The episode was entitled “ Darfur” and followed one of the characters as he traveled to a refugee camp in the violence stricken region to serve as a doctor for the people escaping genocide. The episode addressed many of the issues that exist in Darfur today. A child draws a picture of the Janjaweed attacking his family, a man is brutally beaten to death, a rape victim is shamed by her husband, and the people lack adequate food and drinking water.

I commend ER and it’s producers for tackling this important and widely ignored issue. In a single episode, a television show about doctors did more to raise awareness about the worst humanitarian crisis of our time then newscasts did in an entire year. Perhaps it is time for actual news shows to follow the lead of their fictional counterparts.