Fishermen and pirates and the framing of the issue...

I know from journalism that every story is like a slice of bread: It has two sides. And often an issue has more than just two sides as well. There can be all kinds of sides and complexities. So, it is always interesting to consider how the media or government or business or others can frame an issue. Sometimes information is there, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes sides of an issue are available, sometimes they aren't.

Take, for example, the matter of Somali pirates. For years now, I have heard on the TV news about pirates off the coast of Somalia, tormenting ships and drawing the ire of world-wide navy forces. The term "pirate" itself is certainly a negative term. When I think of a "pirate," I think of "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson and salty peg-legged or hook-handed characters who are mean and violent and like to steal and kidnap. And if a person "spells like a pirate," well, then you know they probably aren't too educated.

Well, I was surprised recently when I checked out the book "Censored 2010, The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008-09," edited by Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff with Project Censored. The project provides lists and information about news stories that have been reported but tend to be generally overlooked and don't make it into the mainstream media.

Story number three was titled "Toxic Waste Behind Somali Pirates." It noted, "The international community has come out in force to condemn and declare war on the Somali fishermen pirates, while discreetly protecting the illegal, unreported, and unregulated fleets from around the world that have been poaching and dumping toxic waste in Somali waters since the fall of the Somali government 18 years ago."

I don't mean to imply that I am sympathetic to the cause of Somali pirates. I honestly don't know enough about the matter. But now I do have some questions, because of how the issue has been framed by all those who control the picture and the framing.

The descriptive word "fishermen," in contrast to "pirates," is not a negative term. But my main point is that until recently when I saw that article in the book, I had never ever heard anything remotely positive, let alone potentially justifiable, from the Somali side of the issue. Not once, not ever. It just wasn't in the news. It just wasn't part of the news reports. Those who framed the issue within my world of the media and society had framed that detail out.