Last Saturday my girlfriends and I were sat around discussing the week’s events and generally putting the world to rights when we came to discussing the trial of Charles Taylor. Everyone has varying degrees of knowledge on the trial, yet most know about the testimonies of Naomi Campbell and Mia Farrow. The media coverage of this story went from paragraph to front page by having two celebrities giving evidence at the trial. As my friends and I tried to piece together our knowledge of the trial we found that the bit we all knew most about was whether or not Naomi Campbell accepted diamonds or a bag of rocks and the contradiction between these two celebrities testimonies.

Few of us have time to be aware of all news stories from around the world but it is undeniably sad that by having a recognisable face tied to your story you can be assured press coverage. This may be understandable in the case of releasing a new model of car but is shockingly transferable to war crimes of a former president.

I woke up on Sunday morning with a thirst to know more about the trial (along with a dry mouth and slight headache) and after finding this brilliant article on the BBC News page I ventured out to coffee feeling much more informed.  With the horrendous crimes Mr. Taylor has committed I couldn’t help but feel ignorant at not knowing about the trial before a waif and an actress became involved. In many ways I should be grateful that the story finally got the media coverage that such a historical case deserves. It could be that for all the resentment we feel towards celebrities infinite power in the media this is one time that an appearance helped educate the ignorant… Although I do think there could perhaps be a bit less airtime and column inches given to the did she didn’t she saga – I guess you can’t contest the popular.

Tags: Current, Laura, News, War Crimes