A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the apparent disinterest in the war. It got me to thinking, what exactly are we interested in? I went to the latest Tyndall report which monitors ABC,CBS, and NBC news. 70% of all Americans still get their news from television. The war in Afghanistan dominated foreign news coverage in 2009, but that is a relative thing. www.ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews All foreign related news accounted for 3,750 minutes, which is only one quarter of all news coverage aired on those three networks. News about Europe, East Asia (with the exception of North Korea), Latin America and Africa were virtually non-existent.
Michael Jackson’s death got more coverage than Iraq, Somali pirates, India, the Chinese economy or global warming. And unless I miss my mark completely, 2010 will have spent more time on Lebron James and Tiger Woods than those five 2009 runner-ups combined. It is easy to forget that what is reported to us is already the result of an editorial opinion.
By Myron Gushlak
