INQUIRER COLUMNIST Trudy Rubin was asked the question in the headline while speaking in Illinois recently.And it has her concerned about whether Americans are getting information that impacts their world.
After lamenting the fact that nearly every newspaper has shuttered their foreign bureaus, she notes, "The three major TV networks have practically eliminated foreign bureaus. Their international coverage dropped to a 21-year low in 2008, when they devoted only 13 percent of their air time to world news. And you won't find serious foreign coverage on CNN, which is best at covering immediate crises."
In a world where people can tailor the news to their own interests, how do we make people realize that the rest of the world has an impact on our lives?
Or, as Rubin asks, "Why can't we find out what's happening in countries whose turmoil affects our lives?"
6 comments:
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan disappeared from mainstream news a long time ago. The average American had little interest in hearing the depressing news coming from those countries, and mainstream media organizations were happy to oblige. Aside from the initial invasion, coverage of the wars were often limited to formal press conferences held by government officials anyway, so the American public was rarely offered any meaningful reporting. I'm not sure how to get the American public interested in international news again, but I think improving the quality of content would be a good start.
Maybe, because we have such pride in claiming America as being the most powerful nation, 'we' feel the need to distance ourselves from issues in other parts of the world that can tie us to countries beneath us. People want immediacy in the news and are accustomed to hearing and following the benefits of our country in comparison to others. America is viewed as the savior to other countries. To think that America shares a common bond between other countries, especially in foreign conflict erodes our credibility as a great nation. The role of the media may be to inform the public and make aware issues that are relevant, but sometimes issues get overlooked for the fear of credibility and popular ideals at the time.We need to be more empathetic to foreign matters, because we depend on them as much as they depend on us.
Jessica Lopez
The media is simply there to distract us from all this stuff going on around the world. And if we were seeing what is really going on all the time, the constant suffering of billions, wouldn't that lower our interest in all this useless shit in the media? But it sells so well...They're just keeping the masses at bay with rampant consumerism and materialistic bullshit. Control the media, control the country.
It's like the Reagan effect of trying to convince America that everything is okay OR will be okay no matter where you live. Some other countries are hurting because of America and some are actually benefiting better than we are (example: health care in some foreign countries). It always amused how people hate Michael Moore. Any movie I did was about things I was ware of because I dig for stories and information on certain topics that the news neglects.
Amanda DiStefano
(Current Journalism and Society student)
Our involvement in global issues has only increased as our ignorance of the outside world has heightened. If American citizens don't know what’s happening in foreign countries, how can we be successful in our foreign relations? We can’t be trusted to elect the politicians that focus on the right issues if we don’t know what those issues are. The media has a responsibility to Americans, and the world, to show us what is really going on in the world.
-Jessica Dunford
well if you watch news daily then they will keep you update about the world. you will get to know what exactly going on in the world but we actually don't have any time or maybe we are so tired of reading about terrorist and wars so that is why we believe that everything is OK or will be OK in America.
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