Reply #18: This is long winded but it shows how much clout Citi possesses

[truedelphi]

In Jan of 1994, due to a minor illness, I watched TV 24/7.

One of the wonderful things that was going on that week was that the Chiappas were in revolt. Not only that -- the friggin' Mainstream Media was responding like crazy. They actually sent CBS, NBC and ABC reporters down to the hills of the farming community. Local news casters allowed for the film videos of the young reporters taking the viewer into the insides of the revolting peasants' huts. Families that had a halfway decent set of dishes were considered "wealthy" because many families only had several eating implements to share among five six or more people. These opeople were poor in a way that most Americans could not envision - no running water, dirt floors, little in the way of stored food, etc.

The media was excited about it. They had detailed explanations of how oppressed these peasants were. How onerous the Mexican army sent in to fight against them.
"Tune back in at 6 or 11 or tomorrow morning, and there will be even more," became an hourly promise.

"This is almost like Edward Murrow" thought I.

Friday early morning media had an update on the revolt. But then at the noon news feed, all that came up was a report that skater Nancy Kerrigan had her knee badly damaged by two guys with crude weapons. From that point on, the Nacy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding 24/7 was all that remained of news.

Over a decade later, in an article in Rolling Stone, it was revealed that Citibank put out the word that the coverage had to be squashed immediately.

And so it was.

Not one of the major news stations showed anything more about the Chiappas revolt. And it was at least ten days later that I read a small update (like on page 22) of the San Francisco Chronicle.