Priorities of the media around the world

[MelCthefirst]

@MsRobyn

I’m not arguing with you. The citizens of the US should take a greater interest in the larger world around them.

But let’s look at a few things. First, most Americans have limited time for news. We don’t have hours to look through magazines, newspapers, and television. We tend to want our news in half-hour or hour-long increments. We also expect a lot of information in that (let’s assume) 30 minutes, which is the length of most newscasts in the US. When you factor in commercials, it’s maybe 22-25 minutes.

What it comes down to is priorities. Americans want to know about America. We care about who’s going to be president, who’s not working and why, whether we need to worry about Frances, how the stock market is doing and why, and how our favorite football team did Sunday afternoon. Shallow? Maybe, but unless we’re willing to watch more public broadcasting (and even that’s not perfect) or cable news for long periods of time, we’re just not going to see everything.

There is a principle in journalism called “What’s in it for me?” Journalists tend to look at things that are important to their local communities, or the entire country. They don’t want to lose an audience to other channels because they’re covering news that isn’t important to its audience, no matter how important it really is.

That said, coverage of this unfortunate incident has improved. It’s been on the front page of my local newspaper for three days running, and has been featured on National Public Radio’s news programs.

Again, there are a lot of outlets for news. You don’t have to rely on American news.

Robin

Yes, but that’s all anybody wants, regardless of which country they come from - how come other western countries manage to do both? The irony is that the ‘overseas’ news that we get is mostly CNN and/or BBC, so we do have to rely on American news (that is TV and newspaper news).

[TeaElle]

@Bryan Ekers

Actuyally, it occurs to me that I should have gone with my first instinct: that TeaElle was being sarcastic. I couldn’t be sure, though.

Yes, I was. I thought that the last paragraph would make that clear. I guess I should’ve stuck in a :rolleyes: for good measure.

[Bryan_Ekers]

@TeaElle

Yes, I was. I thought that the last paragraph would make that clear. I guess I should’ve stuck in a :rolleyes: for good measure.

Actually, the “yada yada yada” was enough. My fault for not reading a post in total before starting to form a response. I’ll have to punish my knee for jerking like that.

Nurse, fetch me the electrodes.

[MsRobyn]

@MelCthefirst

Yes, but that’s all anybody wants, regardless of which country they come from - how come other western countries manage to do both? The irony is that the ‘overseas’ news that we get is mostly CNN and/or BBC, so we do have to rely on American news (that is TV and newspaper news).

Media in some Western countries is funded by the government. Thus, they have a mandate to carry certain kinds of programming. American media, by comparison, is profit-driven, and thus receives no subsidy from the government. In order to profit, they must sell advertising, and to sell advertising, they must have an audience. So, to get that audience, they tend to broadcast information that they think their audience wants.

Robin