No Crisis Like a Financial Crisis

From my Reuters AlertNet blog on 9 October 2008.

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So, I might as well just pack up and go on holiday for a few months. With the global financial crisis continuing, no one wants to hear about violent conflict and mass atrocities around the world. Trying to interest the media in these stories -- ie, my job -- is even harder than usual these days.

The new mood is basically, “Increasing insecurity for millions of displaced in Darfur? Somalia going to hell? Who cares about that when my pension’s disappearing?”

The disinterest is hitting all markets, even on foreign policy issues that have strong domestic connections. For example, when the German cabinet decided this week to renew the mandate for their troops in Afghanistan -- something that sparked a highly visible and hugely divisive debate across the country last time around -- most German daily papers didn’t even run the story on their front pages.

Not sure how long this is going to last or what has to happen to break out of it.