Wasn’t sure which forum to put this in, but figured, hey, we need a Cafe Society thread on this, and it involves the media!
An Aussie friend of mine said that yes, indeed, the whole circus is being covered in Australian TV and newspapers, but that the coverage is fairly balanced and that no, all Americans are not being represented by those cloth-headed loonies outside the hospice.
Dopers in other countries: what’s been the coverage there, if any? (“No coverage at all—Terri who?” would make me happy)
In Germany it has been an infrequent back-pages item since it became a subject of state legislation (on the same order of notice as a shark-snacks-on-australian item), and a second-foreign-news-page/end-of foreign-section-of-TV-news item since it became a subject of federal legislation. Reporting is centered mainly on developments and procedures, with analysis centering on the growing role of religion in US federal politics. Also some right-to-death groups and some bishops have used the heightened media attention to get statements into print.
I don’t know if you would call Canada “foreign” but aside from the various US stations that we get who seem to be covering this round the clock, the various Canadian news programs do make mention fairly regularily. I don’t see a bias in the reporting either - generally just reporting on what had happened that day during the evening news for isntance.
There was an editorial in an English online news site, but besides that, the issue hasn’t even been a blip on the radar screen. Had I not been a Doper, I would have never heard of this.
A short item, once in every two days or so on TV. Not on the frontpage in the papers.
The main conclusion seems to be: We feel sorry for the parents, admire the husband, but most of all we hate to see the disappearing dignity of Terri Schiavo. We don’t understand all the fuss about it and we wish those crazies outside the hospital would go home so that the families of other patients can actually get through the crowd to be with their loved ones.
In Britain there’s been a little on the radio way down the schedules when something develops. Purely factual, haven’t heard any editorials or analysis of the craziness (or otherwise) of any participants. Haven’t noticed anything in the Irish media.
Where I live, Terri has been declared the new “It Girl” and is already making the rounds- Regis and Kelly, The View, etc. She’ll be appearing on People’s cover and later in Vanity Fair, in a tasteful layout, wearing a $500,000 Oscar de la Renta gown. She’ll be spotted out with the likes of Paris Hilton and *O.C. * heart throb Tate Donovan. After he announces their engagement on Oprah, the relationship will sour after too much exposure from the tabloids. She will rekindle her relationship with her (now) ex, but that too will go bad after a stranger from her past sells nudie pics of her to the Enquirer. She’ll appear on some infomercials peddling a feeding tube-inspired diet, “write” a book (it will, of course, be ghostwritten by one of the well wishers outside her hospice, who will manage to interpret her blinks and smiles into a meaningful and tasteful story of hope and triumph through God’s grace) and in a well-received cameo on 7th Heaven, but will receive fewer and fewer offers as the years go by, except one or two VH1 appearances. She will then live to the ripe old age of 80 in a vegetative state. I live in Alternate Reality Land, and it’s closer than you think.
Here, it’s been on one channel’s headline news a few times, mostly with the president’s intervention and the second-to-last denial of appeal (probably will be another item now that there’s a last appeal), but it isn’t even on the level of the Pope or Prince Rainier. Certainly not on the level of the Michael Jackson trial (that gets a mention every bulletin I’ve seen)
It also gets some mention in my newspaper, but not “main news”
Over here it’s been mentioned, but not very often. “In other news, an ill woman in the US is causing controversy among some members of the society. But first, another update on that kitten stuck in a tree”.