Catch Kony 2013?

Tweny-twelve was the year to “catch Kony” — except that no one caught him.

Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. This rebel group is responsible for the displacement of more than two million people and has taken thousands of lives. Notorious for abducting thousands of children to be used as militia and sex-slaves, the LRA has been at large for decades but was one of Africa’s forgotten conflicts until October 2011. That was when President Barack Obama announced that approximately 100 troops would be sent to “apprehend and remove” Kony and his chief commanders.

Shortly after, in March 8 2012, a video by the Invisible Children called ‘Stop Kony’ went viral. The video inspired a social movement that raised nearly $20 million dollars, but the movement fell short after ‘Stop Kony’ filmmaker, Jason Russell, “went crazy” in early October 2012. Coverage died out quickly after Russell’s public outburst.

In April 2013, the US Government offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Joseph Kony. News organizations occasionally post updates about the LRA and Kony’s whereabouts and wrongdoings. A year after Russell’s breakdown, the US Pentagon is considering expanding the search for Kony in Africa.

The “Stop Kony” video sensation may or may not have been a scam to make money — only 32% of the $8.7 million spent in 2011 went to direct services. Nearly $2 million went to employee compensation and another $1.5 million to travel expenses according to the Invisible Children’s 2011 financial statement. The organization may have been corrupt, but the cause is very real.

An editorial in the Toronto Standard said this:

“In any case, it’s been proven time and again that the best sort of advocacy work isn’t this saviour-from-without model. The best thing we can do is help people help themselves, and that means supporting charities that operate from within – charities by Africans for Africans, such as Concerned Parents Association or the Concerned Children and Youth Association…Next time someone links to Kony 2012 on your Facebook wall, attach a link to one of those organizations and suggest that people spend their money there instead.”

By sharing the video and providing heavy coverage of the catch Kony campaign, did the media encouraged the social movement and manipulate the public opinion into following the Invisible Children campaign (without doing their fact checking)?

This is what I’m going to do my comparative analysis of news and information coverage on for my final MULT 2060 paper.