CNN trumpeted an exclusive on its correspondent’s venture into the conflict-torn and oil-rich Niger Delta of Nigeria, where rebel forces have escalated a campaign of kidnapping and violence against foreign oilfield workers. CNN gets some credit for reporting at all from an ignored and dangerous region of the globe. But CNN’s gee-whiz images of menacing, gun-wielding rebels and their hostages imply the conflict is all about the rebels wanting a bigger share of regional oil profits.
CNN relegates even the names of the oil companies (i.e. CNN’s advertisers) to a sidebar story, ignoring the long history of local abuses and broken promises by the likes of Shell, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco. CNN could have nabbed background on oil spills’ environmental ravages from the British Independent newspaper and learned about Nigerian security forces’ human rights abuses on behalf of the oilies from Human Rights Watch, among others.
The conflict in the Niger Delta begs for real investigation, not just swashbuckling by foreign correspondents dropped in to get scary footage.