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June 2, 2006 10:21 AM Subscribe
"The media and the UN share an interest in getting information about what is happening in our world to the public," says Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. "But journalists are often inundated with stories, all competing for their -- and the public's -- attention. Our aim is to make it easier for them to see that important issues do not fade from the headlines."Holy uphill battle, Batman.
posted by chicobangs at 10:29 AM on June 2, 2006
The trouble is that 'bad stuff happening in Africa' news is, at this point, just a bit... well, boring. A harsh thing to say, sure -- but I think, if we're honest, we've all skipped over it in our newspapers occasionally, or even often. It just ends up feeling somehow hackneyed and repetitive; like endless stories about climate change or whatever other Big Important Issues, there's just not really anything new happening to sustain anyone's interest. No matter how huge a story might be, do you really want to read about it every day?
posted by reklaw at 10:44 AM on June 2, 2006
posted by reklaw at 10:44 AM on June 2, 2006
I wish there was a little more than 2 paragraphs behind each link. I was expecting a bit more information. Oh well, at least it's letting me know, I guess.
posted by dead_ at 10:45 AM on June 2, 2006
posted by dead_ at 10:45 AM on June 2, 2006
Amen, I Foody, the US media can't seem to get over Natalie Holloway. It's been a year and I see at least a story a week about her disappearance. Meanwhile, here in Baltimore, the death toll stands at 105. Sucks to be a black man.
posted by OmieWise at 10:49 AM on June 2, 2006
posted by OmieWise at 10:49 AM on June 2, 2006
There sure is a lot shit going on that you do not hear about. But you cann't really stop people wanting to read tabloid newspapers full of trivia about so called celebs.
posted by wildster at 10:50 AM on June 2, 2006
posted by wildster at 10:50 AM on June 2, 2006
[more outside]
1. Liberia Rebuilds
2. Worldwide Migrants
3. War in the Congo
4. Nepalese Children
5. Famine in Somalia
6. 9.2 million in Exile
7. Aid shortage in Southeast Asia
8. Children in Jail Worldwide
9. Fresh Water Scarcity
10. Genocide in the Ivory coast
posted by blue_beetle at 11:09 AM on June 2, 2006
1. Liberia Rebuilds
2. Worldwide Migrants
3. War in the Congo
4. Nepalese Children
5. Famine in Somalia
6. 9.2 million in Exile
7. Aid shortage in Southeast Asia
8. Children in Jail Worldwide
9. Fresh Water Scarcity
10. Genocide in the Ivory coast
posted by blue_beetle at 11:09 AM on June 2, 2006
OmieWise, that link is unbelievable! That deserves a front page post, the cumulative reading is like a black genocide in Baltimore.
posted by jonson at 11:34 AM on June 2, 2006
posted by jonson at 11:34 AM on June 2, 2006
No matter how huge a story might be, do you really want to read about it every day?
The major news media rehashes the same stories day after day, anyway, whether they're important or not - do I really need to read about OJ Simpson (or Gary Condit, or Michael Jackson) every day during their trial? Does it really need to be on the front page? A cute blonde co-ed goes missing in Yosemite and it's all over the big five networks at 6 and 11, but a thousand people die per day in another country and at best it's on PBS.
Frankly, I'd rather see a rehash of a report on the status of [HIV|global warming|ozone hole|famine in Africa|genocide|any other issue where lives are at stake] than a story on some overblown yellow journalistic scandal regarding some washed-up celebrity who I otherwise haven't thought about in ten years.
posted by Feral at 11:39 AM on June 2, 2006
The major news media rehashes the same stories day after day, anyway, whether they're important or not - do I really need to read about OJ Simpson (or Gary Condit, or Michael Jackson) every day during their trial? Does it really need to be on the front page? A cute blonde co-ed goes missing in Yosemite and it's all over the big five networks at 6 and 11, but a thousand people die per day in another country and at best it's on PBS.
Frankly, I'd rather see a rehash of a report on the status of [HIV|global warming|ozone hole|famine in Africa|genocide|any other issue where lives are at stake] than a story on some overblown yellow journalistic scandal regarding some washed-up celebrity who I otherwise haven't thought about in ten years.
posted by Feral at 11:39 AM on June 2, 2006
The problem with these stories is not that they aren't important, it's that they aren't new.
Take this: Famous person gets cancer: Day 1 it's news, Day 74 it isn't. When Kylie Minogue got it, there was a flurry at the start, big silence, a "I'm a bit better" in the middle and then "hurrah!" at the end.
The stories talked about here are long-running, intractable problems. Without high-profile developments, they're going to get very little coverage.
This isn't the whole picture -- the middle east gets coverage despite meeting these criteria -- but it's a crucial part. Plus editors are dicks.
posted by bonaldi at 1:10 PM on June 2, 2006
Take this: Famous person gets cancer: Day 1 it's news, Day 74 it isn't. When Kylie Minogue got it, there was a flurry at the start, big silence, a "I'm a bit better" in the middle and then "hurrah!" at the end.
The stories talked about here are long-running, intractable problems. Without high-profile developments, they're going to get very little coverage.
This isn't the whole picture -- the middle east gets coverage despite meeting these criteria -- but it's a crucial part. Plus editors are dicks.
posted by bonaldi at 1:10 PM on June 2, 2006
Yeah, exactly, bonaldi. The trouble with what some people wants news to be is that they want it to value what is 'important' over what's new, when that simply isn't what it's for. News has to be new.
posted by reklaw at 1:46 PM on June 2, 2006
posted by reklaw at 1:46 PM on June 2, 2006
It's over for Cruz and McConaughey
Cruz spokesman: Couple has 'decided to split'
Friday, June 2, 2006; Posted: 1:43 p.m. EDT (17:43 GMT)
posted by ND¢ at 1:52 PM on June 2, 2006
Cruz spokesman: Couple has 'decided to split'
Friday, June 2, 2006; Posted: 1:43 p.m. EDT (17:43 GMT)
posted by ND¢ at 1:52 PM on June 2, 2006
Yes, and that's new, not important, news. Your post is not-new, important news.
posted by bonaldi at 1:55 PM on June 2, 2006
posted by bonaldi at 1:55 PM on June 2, 2006
News has to be new.
Apparently, the newspapers that had daily front-page coverage of the Michael Jackson trial from arrest to acquittal didn't get the memo.
posted by Feral at 2:21 PM on June 2, 2006
Apparently, the newspapers that had daily front-page coverage of the Michael Jackson trial from arrest to acquittal didn't get the memo.
posted by Feral at 2:21 PM on June 2, 2006
If it is happening currently, how is it not new?
Because it's nothing new. Think of it like this: 50 people died in hospitals yesterday of heart attacks. 50 people died in them today. 50 people will die in them tomorrow. That's happening currently, but it's not news.
If, tomorrow, 3000 people died in hospitals because of heart attacks -- hey, suddenly that's news. See the difference?
Apparently, the newspapers that had daily front-page coverage of the Michael Jackson trial from arrest to acquittal didn't get the memo
Two things:
1. Trials by their nature have new things every day.
2. I guess that's only in the US. In the UK market, there's much more competition, and a drive for the newest news. Follow up stories, like Jackson day four, go inside. Here he only got on the front when something big happened.
posted by bonaldi at 2:51 PM on June 2, 2006
Because it's nothing new. Think of it like this: 50 people died in hospitals yesterday of heart attacks. 50 people died in them today. 50 people will die in them tomorrow. That's happening currently, but it's not news.
If, tomorrow, 3000 people died in hospitals because of heart attacks -- hey, suddenly that's news. See the difference?
Apparently, the newspapers that had daily front-page coverage of the Michael Jackson trial from arrest to acquittal didn't get the memo
Two things:
1. Trials by their nature have new things every day.
2. I guess that's only in the US. In the UK market, there's much more competition, and a drive for the newest news. Follow up stories, like Jackson day four, go inside. Here he only got on the front when something big happened.
posted by bonaldi at 2:51 PM on June 2, 2006
The basic premise of new news makes sense in itself, but doesn't wholly explain what I see on the networks. The perennial killer bee updates (since the '70s) and two-years-late technology news suggest that the rules can be flexible. If an issue is important, by all means, let's catch up with it in progress if need be.
If they can follow a VW going 25MPH during a police pursuit, live, lord knows there's room for actual stories.
posted by evil holiday magic at 3:39 PM on June 2, 2006
If they can follow a VW going 25MPH during a police pursuit, live, lord knows there's room for actual stories.
posted by evil holiday magic at 3:39 PM on June 2, 2006
Yes, though now you're facing the problem of distance. If you don't have new news, you use filler. And you always choose local filler over far-away filler.
The trick that needs to be done to get these stories back on the agenda is to have events come out of them. I suspect this list is one such -- there's a story, albeit a pretty dull one that's a step above filler, in the very list itself.
Here's what I mean: take #1 on the list. That will never, ever make a story anywhere. But find an aid worker who hails from your target newspaper's market, sell her to that paper as a case study, sell just it when something interesting is happening there -- a last-minute appeal drive, the first classrooms reopening, anything -- and it'll get play somewhere.
posted by bonaldi at 3:49 PM on June 2, 2006
The trick that needs to be done to get these stories back on the agenda is to have events come out of them. I suspect this list is one such -- there's a story, albeit a pretty dull one that's a step above filler, in the very list itself.
Here's what I mean: take #1 on the list. That will never, ever make a story anywhere. But find an aid worker who hails from your target newspaper's market, sell her to that paper as a case study, sell just it when something interesting is happening there -- a last-minute appeal drive, the first classrooms reopening, anything -- and it'll get play somewhere.
posted by bonaldi at 3:49 PM on June 2, 2006
If it is happening currently, how is it not new?
Like breathing?
I'm not condoning the sentiment, but the man is right about the pattern.
posted by dreamsign at 5:43 PM on June 2, 2006
Like breathing?
I'm not condoning the sentiment, but the man is right about the pattern.
posted by dreamsign at 5:43 PM on June 2, 2006
bonaldi nails it. If you want new things, read news. If you want important things, go to a library.
But holy crap, I had no idea the death toll in the Congo was that high.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 11:50 AM on June 3, 2006
But holy crap, I had no idea the death toll in the Congo was that high.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 11:50 AM on June 3, 2006
1) Liberia's struggle to rebuild after a savage, 14-year civil war left it near anarchy.
This weekend I had the privilege to be visiting Robben Island at Cape Town, South Africa, with the Liberian Truth and Rights Commission. (Robben Island is a former prison, which held many political prisoners including Nelson Mandela and some of the other founders of South African democracy. Many of the guides at the Island are former political prisoners.)
The purpose of their visit to this and other sites in the country was to understand what S. Africa has done, to use it as a model of how they could acknowledge and educate about Liberia's recent past...
posted by whatzit at 4:31 AM on June 9, 2006
This weekend I had the privilege to be visiting Robben Island at Cape Town, South Africa, with the Liberian Truth and Rights Commission. (Robben Island is a former prison, which held many political prisoners including Nelson Mandela and some of the other founders of South African democracy. Many of the guides at the Island are former political prisoners.)
The purpose of their visit to this and other sites in the country was to understand what S. Africa has done, to use it as a model of how they could acknowledge and educate about Liberia's recent past...
posted by whatzit at 4:31 AM on June 9, 2006
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1) Liberia's struggle to rebuild after a savage, 14-year civil war left it near anarchy.
2) The worldwide exodus of 200 million migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, who fled their native countries in search of peace or a better living.
3) The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo that killed 4 million people over the past five years, making it the deadliest world conflict since World War II.
4) The tens of thousands of Nepalese children being abducted and recruited by the country's Maoist rebel movement.
5) Southern Somalia sitting on the brink of a famine brought on by civil war and a persistent drought, with the potential to kill 12,000 people monthly.
6) The world's 9.2 million refugees remaining in exile for an average 17 years -- nearly twice as long as in 1993.
7) A shortage of aid, despite an international outpouring, that can sustain the long-term survival of victims of last year's South Asian earthquake.
8) The more than 1 million children jailed or imprisoned around the world, the majority of whom are discriminated minorities from poor families.
9) The scarcity of fresh water being just as likely to engender cooperation between two countries as it is to engender conflict, contrary to conventional wisdom.
10) Côte d'Ivoire, plagued by poverty and leaders stirring up ethnic hatred, approaching a Rwanda-like genocide.
[via]
previously
posted by ND¢ at 10:25 AM on June 2, 2006