Africa - America The Cheap?

Yeah, we hear it all the time.

Most recently it was in regards to America's efforts in the tsunami disaster, which the BBC's Peter Marshall called "superfluous". This prompted a scathing rebuke from The Telegraph (UK).

Last week we were subjected to one of the most extraordinary examples of one-sided news management of modern times, as most of our media, led by the BBC, studiously ignored what was by far the most effective and dramatic response to Asia's tsunami disaster. A mighty task force of more than 20 US Navy ships, led by a vast nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, and equipped with nearly 90 helicopters, landing craft and hovercraft, were carrying out a round-the-clock relief operation, providing food, water and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of survivors.

There's lots more in that article, so be sure to read it all.

Now we're hearing it again over aid to Africa and once again The BBC puts the knife in.

All the president could stump up was a paltry $600m (£327m) for emergency famine relief in Ethiopia and Eritrea - welcome perhaps, but a drop in the ocean long-term.

I thought reporters were suppose to report the news not editorialize. Silly me. If the BBC reporter, James Landale, had done is job of reporting the facts, like Rosemary Bennett and Roland Watson did in this Times (UK) article, he would have known that "The money would be on top of $1.4 billion the US has already provided this year to help the UN to reach a goal of $4.5 billion".

So, instead of "a paltry $600m" as Landale puts it, the figure is actually $2 Billion.

The Times (UK) takes a different view.

Bush was firmly behind the pledges of more aid secured at the United Nations conference in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2002. There, he announced that the US would boost its aid by half over three years, a rise of $5 billion (£2.76 million) a year by 2006. The US's Millenium Challenge Account, giving grants to poor countries, has made good government a condition of the payments, helping to answer the growing criticism of wasted aid.

Which is what is really needed to end the poverty gripping Africa.

Even The Guardian does a better job than the BBC, even though they use a dire headline.

"...the US will stump up extra cash that in the long term will cancel $15bn (about £8.2bn) of accumulated debt."

Actually the US is going further than that.

On debt cancellation the Americans promised not merely 100% cancellation, but also additional funding to ensure that the World Bank does not lose out over cancelled interest payments.

Here's a suggestion for the BBC. Let's give half the TV license fee this year to Live 8 and your lame ass reporters can take a one year pay cut for not doing their jobs.
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