Twitter and other social media are, of course, alive with conversations about Naomi Campbell, and the supermodel is hardly emerging with any distinction. Most of the comments are mocking or hostile, and often on a puerile level. Most assume she is a villain, though it is far from clear from her testimony that she is anything of the sort. Most assume she has done a great deal of damage to her reputation, and in this they are surely right.
Whatever Ms Campbell did or did not know about the ‘dirty stones’ given to her in the middle of the night while she was a guest of Nelson Mandela’s, it seems unlikely she will ever again be the guest of any revered head of state. And she did this to herself with a single remark, that giving evidence to a war crimes tribunal was “an inconvenience” to her.
She also advanced other, more reasonable, arguments. Having read of the things of which Charles Taylor stands accused – mass murder, kidnapping and cannibalism are all on the list – she fears for her own safety and that of her family. Fair enough. But war crimes tribunals are reserved for pretty horrific allegations. Getting to the bottom of them, and holding the guilty to account, is rather more important than Naomi Campbell’s modelling career, even granting that she may do a great deal for important charities. Will charities still wish to be associated with Ms Campbell now that she has expressed the view that getting to the bottom of allegations about child murder inconveniences her?
But if Campbell has damaged her reputation, what does this say about the role of the global mainstream media? This is the only sustained as live (with a thirty minute delay) coverage we have ever seen of trials in The Hague. Dramatic moments from the Milosevic trial were on the news, but not with anything like this level of coverage.
Campbell’s testimony did not even get to the heart of the serious issues here. She could not (or at least did not) testify from her own knowledge that the ‘dirty stones’ she received a) were diamonds or b) came from Charles Taylor. Her testimony took us no closer to the key question of the trial – whether or not Taylor is actually guilty of the horrific crimes with which he is charged. And yet this is the news – the only news – that is worth reporting from The Hague.
Rape, murder, cannibalism and genocide may be serious allegations. But to the mainstream media, they matter less than the fact that Naomi Campbell looks good on the catwalk.
I was chatting to Chris Birkett of Sky News today, and asked if there would be live coverage of future war crimes trials, even when only ugly people are involved.
He said they provided live coverage of the Milosevic trial and will be doing so for Karadizc, but he doubted there would be as much interest from viewers, so three hour live feeds would be unlikely.
The Guardian had recently asked him the same question.
Posted by: Quentin Langley | 08/10/2010 at 07:25 PM