I ended up watching Hotel Rwanda over the holidays. Since the RRJ didn't let any of us rest over the "break," I found myself comparing Joaquin Phoenix's journalist character in the movie, Jack Daglish, to our seemingly unaviodable future selves.

In one particular scene, Daglish, like any good journalist, is unwinding in a bar after a tough day of shooting. He's just returned from filming a horrific scene of Rwandans being macheted to death in the street outside their homes. Hotel manager and protagonist Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle) says to him, "I am glad that you have shot this footage, and that the world will see it. It is the only way we have a chance that people might intervene." After a pause, the bloodshot Daglish responds: "Yeah, and if no one intervenes? Is it still a good thing to show?"

Which is exactly what made me go, "huh?" Yes, as journalists we have a responsibility to head out into the world and report on important things that the public need to know about. But since when do we also have to worry about how much action results from our reporting? Have we somehow failed as journalists if our readers or viewers don't bring about UN intervention, smarter government spending, or world peace as a result of what we show them?

This isn't limited to fictionalized journalists, either. I found this article by the Globe and Mail's African correspondent, Stephanie Nolen, in which she laments the unfathomably high AIDS rate in South Africa and is "furious that AIDS in Africa still attracts so pathetically little international attention, such paltry help." Meanwhile, this article, previewing a documentary on foreign correspondents in Afghanistan, speaks of the reporters' "frustrations of covering a forgotten war."

Strange - as Rachel pointed out in her blog a few days ago, journalists are misguided if they think their reports can bring about any sort of positive change. I can imagine how frustrating it would be to be embedded in a war zone and not see a strong public outcry about it from the folks back home... but maybe we should all take a hint from Daglish and drink our sorrows away in fancy hotel bars.

Speaking of Rwanda, I might as well use this space to recommend Philip Gourevitch's book on the subject, We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: stories from Rwanda. Langewiesche, Vaillant, and MacKinnon are good, yes, but they've got nothing on Gourevitch.