BREAKING NEWS - Janitor tells all!!!
-In day 469 of the US election a janitor from the campaign headquarters of John Kerry located in upper butt-fuck Arkansas had this to say about the opposition, “Them fellows is evil”.
This just in - Former President Clinton to have heart surgery!!
-Beloved by all, former President Clinton is scheduled for heart surgery. Monica Lewinsky, former White House aid, is said to be devastated and in mourning. President Bush declared war on heart disease stating that ‘We will never surrender’.
In other unimportant news - some kids killed in the former USSR. But then what else can you expect from them furriners? They’re all pecular.
Skynews:
BREAKING NEWS - Russian school kids taken hostage. Many feared dead!!!
-More than 600 children have been taken hostage by Chechyn rebels. Over 150 feared dead as talks go horribly wrong in one of the most tragic terrorist incidents in human history!
This just in - Former President Clinton to have heart surgery.
-Fat former President Clinton, who had a well known liking of fast foods, is scheduled for heart surgery in one of the 500,000 similar operations performed anually in the US every year. Christ, he still weighed 15 stone after his last diet people! What the hell did you expect?!
In other news: - Day 469 of the US election. Yes, they still haven’t elected anyone there yet.
Books are a well know way to get current event information…not.
My point here is that when 9/11 happened every news agency seemed to be covering it non-stop. Now when what looks to be an event of similar importance happens and is given the priority it probably deserves on the foreign news media, it plays third fiddle to the talking heads in the States reporting the same information from the election ad nauseum. Hey, maybe take some time and inform the public about an event that may have more far reaching implications than what some goof-ball senator has to say about the candidate he supports, or the one he doesn’t, and the ensuing analysis thereof.
I’m not certain the “similar importance” label is appropriate, but consider that the attacks on Sept. 11 took place in New York and Washington, major cities where thousands of reporters are already assigned. Similarly, there are hundreds of American reporters already assigned to the upcoming election, all competing for space. Compare that to a hostage situation in a relatively obscure administrative division of Russia, with more difficult access and I expect not a lot of local news bureaus. By the time a large cohort of western reporters could even get into position, the crisis was half-over.
And if it bugs you, stop watching American news programs or at least grow the fuck up about it. I remember an incredibly dumbass moment in Canadian TV news some years ago. That day, the two major communication satellites had failed, causing whole cellphone and pager networks to fail, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. That was the second story on the CTV National News. Top billing went to some trivial non-development in the interminable Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan affair. I got over it. You should, too.
The Volkskrant, one of the larger Dutch newspapers, devoted the first three pages of today’s paper to the drama in Russia. That is indeed a similar order of coverage as was given to 9/11. So yes, non-US media have different priorities, notwithstanding it happening in an allegedly “relatively obscure administrative division of Russia” (Bryan Ekers).
I’m not interested in the debate about the quality of US media, just want to point out that other western media manage to provide in-depth coverage of this event.
I was also watching the international edition of CNN and they were covering it the same as Skynews. As I can’t see the North American version of CNN I can’t tell what they were reporting, so had to go with what I saw on MSNBC.
Yo, Bryan.
I am the first to defend Americans when people start to badmouth them, but it can be hard sometimes when a major event like this happens and they are spending time on inconsequentialities. It is no wonder that some think Americans are ignorant of the world outside their borders.
National Public Radio has been doing a fairly credible job of covering this disaster. They’ve got a reporter on the scene, and have been giving this a fair amount of coverage on its news programs.
That said, the reason most network news (and newspapers, for that matter) haven’t been giving this a lot of coverage is because their research shows that most Americans who consume their news programming just don’t give a rat’s ass about East Bumfuck, Russia. The Chechen rebellion is between Chechnya, a place most Americans can’t find on a map if it were highlighted in bright yellow, and Russia, which is this far-away country most Americans can find only because it’s so fuckin’ huge, so they’ve got an odds-on chance of finding it if they point to something.
If you want better coverage, I suggest you look to international news agencies. In the age of the Internet, there is no reason to rely on one’s own national news.
Well, fuck 'em. Provincial ignorance is worldwide.
Had this crisis happened at a time other than during the year-long pageant of the trans-mundane that is a U.S. election, there might have been more coverage on American TV. If you have a problem with how the Americans set their priorities, don’t watch American television, or found your own media company to cover the “real” news. I don’t think you deserve empathy or sympathy for such a lame rant. The hostage crisis wasn’t being censored or downplayed; it just wasn’t a huge priority to some people. Deal with it.
The newspapers got it right in terms of coverage. Both the NY Daily News and the New York Post dedicated six to eight pages== on a Saturday==to the end of the school hostage situation.
Listen, Nugget. I’m one of the few Canadians who think that there shouldn’t be a border between the US and Canada. I like Americans. But sometimes they can be really insular.
I’m in the middle of the freakin’ desert here and the only channels we get for news is Skynews, International CNN and Orbit (which is mostly MSNBC). Forget papers because they are weeks out of date and the internet is severely limited. I wonder how the Straighdope manages to keep sneaking through. The first two news services had the Russian situation as a top story while MSNBC had it as an aside. Whatever. It is one of the only ways that locals are in contact with foreigners and this is what they see.
Watching this morning, though, MSNBC had it as their second story now that it is listed as the #2 worst terrorist attack ever.
Well, herein lies your problem, hoser. You’re kvetching about the amount of media coverage and somehow extending that to make a statement about Americans generally, i.e. they’re insular, ignorant, whatever.
“Gosh, I’m not bashing Americans, it’s just that this typo in the New York Times proves none of them can spell!”
And how is that any fault of the Americans, or prove they are actually ignorant and/or insular? Are they responsible for the prejudices of others? I stand by my “fuck 'em” protocol.
God, this is pathetic. The OP is out in the middle of nowhere, and complains that “the media around the world” isn’t beaming him exactly the types of news stories he’s interested in.
You have an internet connection, you idiot. Do you need to be spoon fed everything?