What's on the menu Clive? As a news addict, this is something that I often think about. Blink and you might miss it - the ebb and flow of the news agenda.
Sometimes the news spotlight shines upon an issue night after night and you just cannot get away from it. Then, even though the original issue is by no means resolved, that spotlight swings elsewhere until it becomes very easy to forget about the first focus. To a large extent, assuming there's no political interference, this is all about decision making in the conference rooms of news services.
Why don't we hear about Syria any more - the strife between the ruling forces of Bashar al-Assad and the various rebel groups that oppose him? This civil war has been going on since 2011. Half a million people have been killed and more than 14 million have fled their homes. What's the state of play right now? News services have decided not to tell us any more. It's off the playlist.
It's the same with Afghanistan. Western forces went in there to kick ass after 9/11 and then they departed quite abruptly in 2021. We used to get endless reports from Afghanistan but now the curtain has more or less come down on a still troubled country with a population of over 41 million. Do the news services think we are not interested any more? They appear to have decided not to tell us much else. It's also off the playlist.
Ukraine? Once we were bombarded with news reports. Night after night. And okay, we still get occasional reports from Kyiv and elsewhere but the news has become greatly reduced. Maybe the decision makers imagine that the public are bored with it. We can only stand so much of Russian aggression and territorial maps that hardly change. Maybe soon weeks will pass by before we hear anything more from Ukraine.
Gaza? The vengeful ruination of Gaza had top billing for weeks from last October onwards but even Gaza has been been pushed into the news shadows by what is happening in Lebanon right now.
And what of Yemen? Well - for whatever reason, in mainstream news we have pretty much heard nothing about what has been going on there since 2014. No word about Saudi Arabian involvement, the 377,000 deaths or the 85,000 children who have died from malnutrition according to Save the Children. It's all hidden by a massive blind-spot.
Another thing I notice about news programmes is that whenever there's a big new story to tell, it seems to occupy the entire agenda - meaning that other news stories are simply cancelled - as if they didn't really matter.
I am sure there are plenty of other news stories I might have used as examples of how subjects are picked up and then dropped even though that particular story is not yet finished. You can't help feeling that in this area, news can be rather like entertainment - keeping things fresh and giving the customers new stuff to consume.
This same thing happens with hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, etc. It takes these communities and areas years to recuperate. Just because you never hear about them anymore, doesn't mean they aren't still suffering and struggling.
ReplyDeleteThe world is so sad and cruel I just want to go to bed and cover my head.
ReplyDelete