violence and the media

This is not exactly what you're going to expect given the title (at least, not what I would expect:  a rant against violent video games or some such...).

But a recent post by Alex de Waal reveals that

The analysis of media coverage of Darfur during and after the height of hostilities in 2003-04 finds that there is a striking inverse correlation between violence and media coverage – as killings decline, coverage increased.

His argument is that

There is good circumstantial evidence that [media coverage] is responsible (in part) for driving down the violence and helping reduce famine mortality.

You can read the whole article here.

HT: Aid Watch