The Christchurch earthquake?
The tsunami in South-East Asia?
The Japanese quake AND Tsunami?
Are you aware that 750,000 people could die from starvation in East Africa in the next two months?
It's easy to forget these disasters that killed and are still killing thousands upon thousands of people, when mainstream media avoids it like the proverbial plague. Journalists sit around in their offices, waiting for the next press release to come in from AAP or Reuters or some other news wire, waiting for something to write about.
They think to themselves - "Should I write about death and destruction in a world full of it or do I report on the birth of a new baby Elephant at Taronga Zoo?" What do they classify as news and how do they find out what people want to read about?
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| Hmmm... |
I know that I regularly hack on the media for a lot of different things - from beefing up news stories, to just plainly making shit up or shameless plugging something. Now, don't think that this is turning into some sappy "I have changed my views on the media" because I haven't - if anything, I'm more disgraced by what they do. I more disgraced by the fact that the media industry is seen as a business, compared to something that actually informs the public - and doesn't try to sell them anything.
Now bear with me here!
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| Raarr! |
I completely understand that the media industry is a business. Journalists write because they enjoy what they do, but also because they need to money to live - even if that means doing something or writing something that don't completely agree with.
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| Except Peter Overton - he's just a plain ol' fucktard. |
You might be wondering why I'm writing this today and honesty, it wasn't because I saw something in the news today that reminded me of those natural disasters, but because the "anniversary" of 9/11 is coming up and I keep hearing it being described as the "World's Greatest Tragedy".
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| Let's not forget, in a world full of Americanization, the MLB is called the "World Series". |
Don't believe the lies and spin.
JM
Good point. Calling it the world's worst is too much. I'm sure to those who were actually there and were personally affected by 9/11 through death of a loved one would agree that it's the worst tragedy. But to others who are suffering an equally terrible situation somewhere like the famine in East Africa, it's hardly the worst.
ReplyDeleteIt's just because it's so historically significant. Conspiracy theories aside, 9/11 did give your best friend, George, considerable ammunition to declare war. Which I personally think changed the course of world politics enough for the media to fuss about it.
It's a different game when you write about a historical event like 9/11 compared to a natural disaster like the Christchurch earthquakes or the Japanese tsunami. Both types of events have different circumstances leading up to them, completely different effect! Even in defining both as tragedies would be different in a sense that 9/11 wasn't completely out of someone's control. Someone could have prevented that from happening. I'm pretty sure you can't say the same for earthquakes and tsunamis. Although I think Captain Planet was on leave those days.