[Newspoetry] How the News Changes

[mlehman]

Written near Beartown, CO, July 22, 2001

How The News Changes

Last night
On the BBC
After the shooting death
The day before
Graphic reporting of brutal police
Raids on protesters in Genoa
People lined up against a wall
Beaten by police
Three carried out unconcious
Twnety more hospitalized
Hundreds injured
Pools of blood lay in near-silent witness

This morning
It is obvious
That BBC management has redirected
The focus of the news
Now we hear
How the G-8
Wants globalization to work
"Especially for the poor"
No mention of the dead and wounded
Perhaps globalization will work someday
Only for the survivors?
Of its brutal police tactics

Tony Blair specifically condemns the protests
But he doesn't condemn
Brutality by the police
Police-state tactics
The bloody face of globalization
Is no longer considered fit to report

Mike Lehman