When Hunger No Longer Makes the Headlines

According to analysts, severe hunger crises in countries in the Global South are not receiving the media and political attention they deserve. Budgets for weaponry are far greater than food aid funds.

Amina Suleman left her village in Maradun, in the northwestern state of Zamfara, Nigeria, to escape attacks by Islamist militants. “They killed many, looted our property and livestock. They burned everything, including food supplies,” she told DW.

The hunger crisis in Nigeria is worsening.

The attacks happened seven years ago, but the security situation has not improved. Government forces are still fighting against jihadist militias and bandit groups to stop kidnappings and extortion.

Suleman now lives with her seven children in an empty building near Sokoto. “Our children have to go out and beg so that we can eat. We have no source of food other than begging. If they get a little money, we buy garri,” she said, referring to a snack made from cassava.

In the past, her family ate from their own farm. Now, food is only enough for one meal a day. “Yesterday, I went to sleep hungry, because there was no food.” Her husband is unemployed, and no help is coming.

Jamila Shehu (37), who comes from the same village, says the bandits stole all her belongings. Her family has so far survived thanks to her children begging. “If they bring something, we eat. If not, we just have to endure the hunger,” she said.

According to the Global Outlook 2026 report by the World Food Programme (WFP), an estimated 318 million people worldwide are experiencing acute hunger, most of them on the African continent.

The UN agency says that Gaza and parts of Sudan are currently the most affected areas. This is the first time this century that two acute hunger crises have occurred simultaneously in two different countries.

The media ‘ignores’ hunger

Many hunger crises go unreported due to a lack of coverage, says researcher Ladislaus Ludescher from Goethe University in Frankfurt.

He calls global hunger “the biggest problem in the world that is actually solvable,” but criticizes the serious neglect of the issue in the media and politics.

“More people die from hunger than from tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and malaria combined,” he told DW.

“Every 13 seconds, a child under the age of five dies from hunger-related causes. This is a major problem that could be solved if adequate resources were provided.”

He came to this conclusion after researching 39 German media outlets — including 8,000 news reports, about 500 political talk show episodes, and more than 1,000 print media editions with a total of about 37,000 pages.

The result: ending world hunger is basically a matter of political will. However, the media, according to him, largely ignores the issue.

More sports coverage than issues in developing countries

According to Ludescher, about 85% of the world’s population lives in developing countries, but only 10% of the reports in prime-time news programs discuss them. In print media, the figure is even lower, at 5%.

For example, in the first half of 2022, the German prime-time news program, Tagesschau, aired more sports coverage than all the issues in developing countries combined. “Soft news” elements such as sports, which are more entertaining, often serve as a distraction from hard news.

Such coverage gives millions of viewers an escape into a world that feels lighter and more accessible — a world that is not always full of crises.

His research also shows that the incident of actor Will Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars received more than twice as much coverage as the civil war in Tigray, northern Ethiopia.

“In that war, more than 120,000 women were raped, and about 600,000 civilians died. It was the bloodiest war of the 21st century. However, most people in Europe may not have heard a word about it,” said Ludescher.

State of emergency in Malawi

Malawi in southern Africa regularly appears in crisis reports. “Malawi is facing one of the worst hunger crises in recent years due to prolonged droughts, erratic rainfall, and economic pressures,” Pamela Kuwali, country director for the NGO CARE, told DW.

“Millions of families do not have enough food. Between now and March, about four million people are struggling with severe hunger,” she added.

The government of Malawi has repeatedly declared a state of emergency in the past decade. However, according to Kuwali, the issue is rarely discussed — and not loudly enough.

“When the media does not cover a crisis, the crisis becomes invisible. And when it becomes invisible, it becomes more difficult to raise funds, more difficult to mobilize support, and more difficult to attract the political attention needed for real solutions,” she said. “Without stories, without pictures, without headlines, the world will not feel the urgency.”

The media should be able to sharpen the world’s awareness of global hunger, encourage decision-makers to pay attention and get involved in solving it, said Ludescher. “With a few exceptions, this humanitarian and journalistic responsibility has not been fulfilled.”

The setting of the news agenda plays a major role in shaping public debate, he added. “Politics and the media have a reciprocal relationship. The media reports on what politicians do and the issues they face. On the other hand, politicians also observe which issues are getting a lot of attention in the media, and then jump on them.”

The world spends more on weapons than on food

Ludescher estimates that an additional $10 billion to $50 billion per year would actually be enough to solve the problem. He also points out that the world spends far more on weapons than on food.

“If we spent even a fraction of that on food, we could end world hunger,” he said.

Ludescher’s research shows that the media has a responsibility to cover global hunger and to hold politicians accountable for their actions. He hopes that his research will help to raise awareness of the issue and to encourage more people to take action.