A Year in the News

I found the Year in the News article to be really fascinating. I found the study in depth and very extensive. There were some points I found particularly interesting. One of those was that there is a real disconnect between what the public wants to see reported in the news and what we are actually receiving. I found that really interesting because most of the time I am used to thinking that we are getting what most people want. I guess I was a bit happy and relieved to hear this as well. While I am a bit of a celebrity fan I was so sick last year of the Anna Nicole Smith coverage and the nonstop Paris HIlton watch. I guess I am just a little curious as to why we aren't getting more of what we want (i.e. gas prices or the toy recalls according to the graph on page 9). I was also really interested by the article and the class discussion about the majority of our international stories surround U.S. interests abroad. While I do wish I knew more about international news and happenings I think it only makes sense that we would report about our interests abroad. For people to care about the information being presented to them it has to be somehow relevant. Our presence and interests abroad are very relevant to how we live our everyday lives and I think it makes sense that these are the kinds of stories we hear. And to be honest, I don't think that we are the only country who thinks this way. We may be very American-centric but you can't tell me that people in other countries care at all about irrelevant foreign politics. For example, I was in Beijing this summer working with an Australian girl. She mentioned how she was concerned about the war in Iraq and its international consequences but she knew nothing of the VA tech massacres. For her and her Australian classmmates she said that gun control and safety on campus were not relevant threats to her and that she knew nothing about the whole thing. And while it shocked me I guess I can understand her logic.