A little lop are we?

Yesterday was a fairly slow day at work. On most slow days, I surf over to my regularily visited pages, just to pass some time, or until something comes up. One of my most favourite sites, is a photojournalism site...

http://www.alertnet.org/

It's a humanitarian emergency site sponsored by Reuters. It has up to the second updates of crises that occur around the world.

You don't have to spend too much time on it to realize that humanity is in a sad state. You can forget about global warming. Many of the events you would read about are so deeply embedded into society and politics that it seems like such a dire situation. It can get depressing, as death is the main theme everyday.

I've always wondered, why do certain events get more coverage than others? Why does it seem like the country you were born in dictates how important you are to international eyes? Is the media really racist? Do WE really care about what goes on?

I don't want to belittle a certain event that occurred last week in the states that got (and is still getting) so much media coverage, but it proves my point. We'll hear about about 30 people who die in the states (which I feel is very tragic), but we'll never hear about 30000 who die overnight from famine or war. Does the media deem it less tragic? It sickens me. Some people think I don't care... Maybe it's just that I care too much.

But Neil, how do we fight the media?
I'm glad you asked.

1) Consider the source, check other sources (especially if your main source was CNN).
2) Consider the context of the event. Compare/contrast.
3) Make up your own informed decision about the event. Keeping in mind that there is bias in everything and that there is always another side to the story that is not being told.

Don't let the media shape your world view.