<
https://lithub.com/copaganda-on-the-news-on-the-crucial-stories-the-media-ignores/>
"In 2022, I appeared on a Sunday morning news show in Los Angeles amid an
increase in local news stories about theft. I pointed out patterns in which
news stations devoted more coverage to low-level theft than to other behavior
that causes more suffering, including larger forms of theft.
The anchor incredulously asked me why the news should not be covering it when a
man in a Ferrari is robbed and has his Rolex taken in Beverly Hills, which he
explained was “one of the most affluent areas.” Referencing that anecdote and
retail theft by groups of teenagers in clothing stores, he said, “I think we
have an obligation to cover that, don’t you think?” The answer to his question
depends on what one thinks to be the purpose of news.
Air pollution kills ten million people each year and causes untold additional
illness and suffering. It kills at least 100,000 people in the United States
alone annually—about five times the number of police-reported homicides. But it
rarely features in daily news stories. Police and prosecutors ignore pollution,
much of which is criminal, and so do most journalists.
For example, federal prosecutors charged twenty-three people with environmental
offenses in 2020, and they charged more than 23,000 people with drug offenses
in the same period. Daily news stories focus on the kind of legal violations
publicized by police and prosecutor press releases, usually involving poor
people.
Why is this important? Because what the news treats as urgent affects what we
think is urgent. It shapes what (and who) we are afraid of. It helps dictate
what we demand from our political system, and from each other.
Imagine if, every day for the last four years, every newspaper and TV station
had “breaking news” stories and graphics about the thousands of deaths the
night before from water pollution, eviction, lack of access to medication and
health care, or poverty. Or debilitating injuries caused by workplace safety
violations?
Or tens of thousands of child labor violations? What about the death,
destruction, cancer, infertility, and other harms to humans, animals, and
ecosystems from criminal acts of industrial littering in cities across the U.S.
every day?"
Voa Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
