Watch part two

On The Listening Post this week, we are devoting the bulk of this week's broadcast to Ethiopia.

It has been 25 years since the famine and we are looking at how the story was covered then, and how it is being covered now.
 
In 1984 Ethiopia suffered one of the worst famines in recorded history - it killed a million people.

Millions more would have starved had the story not been reported in such a dramatic way on Britain's BBC.

One initial seven-minute story created a ripple effect in the global media, resulting in one of the most dramatic and successful relief efforts the world has ever seen. 

But that is just about it for the feel good factor. People are still starving - not just in Africa - but since that watershed report in 1984 news of famines and food crises often fail to make it onto our television screens or into print.

Our starting point this week is the news report that helped save millions and the question: If people starving to death is not news in 2009, what is?

Same image, different coverage

In part two of The Listening Post, Meenakshi Ravi continues our look at that 1984 BBC news report. The footage made its way onto TV screens all around the world and provoked ordinary people, politicians and celebrities into action.

Within a year over $100mn was raised, and millions more in increased foreign aid budgets.

We want to take a closer look at that initial BBC piece now, because if Mohammed Amin, the Kenyan cameraman who shot the story, was alive today, the pictures would have looked a lot different.

We will look at the historic images from a quarter of a century ago and at why famine coverage in 2009 looks - and sounds - so different on our screens.

Moore's take on Chavez meeting

American filmmaker Michael Moore recounts his meeting with Hugo Chavez [EPA]