WHISPER BLOODY MURDER?
By Paul Sookiasian
Frida y, December 5, 2008
Less than a month ago news started coming across the wires that
surprised many in the Armenian-American community. A CNN press
release said that it would be airing a program by their respected
correspondent Christiane Amanpour, entitled, "Scream Bloody Murder,"
which would deal with the lack of response to genocides of the 20th
century. The release specifically mentioned Armenia as one of the
cases of genocide it would be examining.
This naturally created some excitement that finally a major
news organization would be dedicating a program partly to the so
often overlooked Armenian Genocide of 1915 and inform a nationwide
audience about it. Word was spread by phone and internet with many
Armenian-Americans excited that the mainstream media would finally
take a look at our forgotten genocide.
Personally, I was a little suspicious and the day before the showed
aired I found out through a source that, as I had suspected, the
total time dedicated to the Armenian Genocide in this two hour program
would be 45 seconds. However the many other Armenians who did not know
this went into the show expecting at long last some serious interest
in the plight of their ancestors from one of these many 20th century
genocides. They must have been sorely disappointed. Before the show had
even ended people I know were angrily posting messages20of shock and
disappointment that something billed as a documentary about genocide,
inclusive of the Armenian case, would dedicate large portions of time
to all the other cases but less than a fleeting minute to Armenia.
What’s so interesting is the title of the CNN show to begin with
invokes the imagery of screaming and talked to those who screamed
about genocide, a notion identical to that of Carla Garapedian’s
Armenian Genocide documentary "Screamers". This idea of screaming
about genocide to make it known was originated by Harvard scholar
Dr. Samantha Power in her Pulitzer Prize-winning book "A Problem from
Hell". She was featured in "Screamers" and it is hard to think that
the CNN special was not at least in part inspired by Power’s work
based on this similarity. It bares mentioning that Power dedicated
a chapter of her book on genocide to the Armenian Genocide and so
one can assume that if put in charge of planning "Scream Bloody
Murder" she would have found it worthy of much more screen time
than 45 seconds. This is not to say that CNN should be condemned for
mentioning the Armenian Genocide, but the off-handed manner in which
1915 gets mentioned (despite Armenia having been prominently billed
as one of the documentary’s subjects in the original press release)
when the other examples of genocide each received on average the
space of time through two commercial breaks seems to imply it is a
les ser example or somehow not central to the subject of genocide.
Flying in the face of this conception though is the fact mentioned in
the documentary that 1915 inspired Lemkin to coin the word genocide
and really got him thinking about the crime in the first place. As
one can see in the documentary Screamers or Power’s book, there was
no lack of screaming going on in the Armenian case either. Ambassador
Henry Morgenthau’s story is a now legendary example of someone who
stood up to the very face of genocide and tried to scream about it to
the world. This screaming reached its way to the top, as evidenced by
this article regarding Secretary of State at the time William Jennings
Bryan, but unfortunately it couldn’t be stopped. Other screamers
included Consul Leslie A. Davis who told tales of genocide which
sound frighteningly similar to those which occurred later in Rwanda
and Cambodia as mentioned in "Scream Bloody Murder". Even though the
Armenian Genocide is over its effect and the fact it is unrecognized
by Turkey still resound today in the highest levels of world affairs,
geopolitics, and is quite relevant to our world today even though it
is almost a hundred years in the past. Just a few years ago former US
Ambassador to Armenia John Evans was fired by the State Department for
screaming proper recognition of the genocide. This story compliments
those mentioned by CNN, such as that of Canadian general in Rwanda
Romeo Dallaire, of those who screamed and paid the price (and is
a unique twist in that this scream was so long after the genocide
happened as opposed to while it was going on).
Despite being largely overlooked, the Armenian Genocide was even
referenced in the Genocide Convention covered by Amanpour as having
finally put into law the crime of genocide. While it is too late
now to go back and create a new segment on the Armenian Genocide to
place in the already aired documentary, that does not mean CNN has no
way of rectifying this error. I had been feeling hopeful about the
documentary and might have given it more of a pass on this omission
until I saw this interactive map on the section of Scream Bloody Murder
section of CNN’s website about the world’s killing fields. It appears
that despite the fact when it had first been announced Armenia was
prominently mentioned as one of the examples of genocide that would be
covered, it failed to even be pinpointed on the interactive map as an
example of genocide. This is a very strange thing to ponder since one
would assume if the Armenian Genocide is mentioned in the promotional
material it’d be listed on this interactive map. This seems to compound
the insult of being only mentioned for 45 seconds in the documentary
to being completely forgotten on their world map of genocides and
makes me question what went on behind the sc enes. Perhaps they
found it too provocative to pinpoint a NATO ally such as Turkey and
decided that since marking the Armenian Genocide would mean marking
Turkey it’d be best to just leave Armenia off despite the fact it is
even mentioned in the documentary? Despite the fact it says almost
nothing about the Armenian Genocide, Scream Bloody Murder hasn’t gone
unnoticed in Turkey after all, as this Turkish newspaper article from
Hurriyet yesterday makes clear: "Genocide feature worrisome"
Whatever the case, this oversight is extremely unfortunate and
Armenians and Americans alike should take CNN to task. American
officials were the first to scream out in the 20th century – a proud
fact swept under the rug.
Besides letting CNN know they should have paid more attention to the
original example of 20th century genocide in their documentary, it
can show its good faith immediately by placing the Armenian Genocide
on their website’s interactive map as it deserves. For an otherwise
well-done documentary on the importance of screaming bloody murder
whenever and wherever it happens, this blank spot over Turkey doubles
as a shameful and bloody stain
To write to CNN, or to post your question for Christiane Amanpour,
take action here:
Amanpour Screams ‘Bloody Murder’ But Not about Armenian Genocide
By Ara Khachatourian, Asbarez.com, 4 December 2008
A powerful documentary entitled "Scream Bloody Murder anchored by
Christiane Amanpour premiering on CNN today (9 p.m. ET/PT) offers a
gripping look at Genocide throughout history and those who
witnessed and warned a deaf world about such atrocities, but neglects
to mention the Armenian Genocide as the first such event that prompted
Raphael Lemkin to coin the phrase.
The documentary begins with the roots of the word Genocide and
chronicles the stormy conflicts within Lemkin, who, as Amanpour
puts it, was affected by the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians by
Ottoman Turks and was prompted to coin the phrase Genocide. In the
almost 90-minute press screener, the Armenian Genocide was mentioned
for about 45 seconds as an anecdotal reference to Lemkin’s struggle
for human justice. Using photographs now familiar to all Armenians
and possibly obtained from Armin T. Wegner Collection, Amanpour
illustrates the horror of the Armenian Genocide but does not delve
into it in as in-depth and compelling manner as she does the other
instances of Genocide.
Throughout the program, Amanpour "reveals stories of those who tried to
stop genocide," as the CNN press information describes it and discusses
the horrific stories of Genocide with "heroes who witnessed evil– and
‘screamed bloody murder’ for the international community to stop it.
Amanpour and CNN should be applauded for the in-depth look at Genocide,
from the Holocaust to the killing fields of Cambodia, to I raq, Rwanda,
Bosnia and now Darfur the horror of it all is told with searing images
and graphic eyewitness accounts.
To bring attention to Genocide, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of
the adoption of UN Convention of Genocide and Human Rights, authored
by Lemkin, is an important accomplishment, one that also asks the
hard question of why the world did (does) not interfere when it has
a moral obligation.
Amanpour adeptly clarifies the political machinations behind the
response–or lack thereof–by the US in all instances featured in the
report and wonders, at the end, whether others who "scream bloody
murder" will be heard. One wonders, however, if Amanpour heard the
screams of Henry Morgenthau, the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
at the time of the Armenian Genocide, who along with Elie Wiesel,
Father Francois Ponchaud, Peter Galbraith, Richard Holbrook, Canadian
General Romeo Dallaire and others who bore witness to such unspeakable
atrocities and whose warnings prompted action but not soon enough to
save millions of lives.
Perhaps, the Armenian community can now prompt CNN, as it did eight
years ago ABC News and its venerable anchor the late Peter Jennings
to take a closer look at the first Genocide of the 20th Century.
Amanpour’s "Scream Bloody Murder" is an important piece of journalism
as it asks the very critical questions that could have prevented so
many acts of Geno cide. In its reporting, Amanpour is also very adept
at pointing to US complicity in all these events, much like Samantha
Power was in her Pulitzer Prize-winning book "A Problem from Hell:
America and the Age of Genocide."
"Scream Bloody Murder" anchored by CNN Chief International
Correspondent Christiane Amanpour airs on CNN Thursday at 9 p.m.
Eastern/Pacific, with an encore at midnight Eastern and Pacific.
1) Post your question on CNN iReport
Ask Christiane Amanpour a question about this serious shortcoming in
her documentary through CNN iReport,
an interactive feature that allows you to post video and text viewable
by the millions of visitors to CNN’s website. Your posting will also
be searchable on Google News.
View an effective CNN iReport
posting commenting on "Scream Bloody Murder".
2) Write directly to CNN’s editors
Send a free ANCA WebFax to CNN’s leadership pointing out this
shortcoming and asking them to address this gap in their reporting
in future coverage of genocide-related issues.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
