Every December, Pew Research Center releases the top 15 news stories from the past year. While 2011 was full of international news, 2012 was dominated by domestic issues and tragedies. The No. 1 news story of the year was the election, followed by the Connecticut school shooting, Hurricane Sandy, rising oil/gas prices and the Colorado movie theater shooting. The story of the Benghazi embassy attacks was the only top 15 international news story.
I understand that domestic issues matter a lot. We can empathize with other Americans and, when tragedy strikes, it is much more likely to directly affect us. It seems much easier to care and to be invested in the lives of people who talk like us, look like us or think like us. However, 2012’s news coverage statistics were obscene. I am embarrassed to know just how wholly the news media and we, as consumers of media, ignored the entire rest of the globe and stories that had true news values were sacrificied. The stories that the American public focused on were sensational and often overdone or politically charged.
I fail to understand why the Trayvon Martin story, which was ranked 11th, was any more important than the ongoing crisis in Syria. Despite the increasing death toll, Pew reported that more than half of those polled in early December said they were paying little or no attention to the situation in Syria.
I also fail to understand why President Obama’s personal stance on gay marriage, which was ranked 10th, is more important than the debt crisis in Europe, which will deeply affect the American economy. In June, only 18 percent of people said they were following news of the European economy while 37 percent followed the President’s comments the month before.
I fail to understand how coverage of Whitney Houston’s death, Kate Middleton and Big Bird was more important than the mass amounts of sex trafficking going on, or the child soldiers in foreign countries or the crucial balance of tensions in the Middle East.
In March of 2012, CNN closed its investigative documentary department. This meant letting go of investigative journalist Kaj Larsen. Larsen often reported from foreign countries such as Somalia and Indonesia and was hoping to start investigating drug cartels in East Africa. He now works as a consultant for the fictional HBO show “The Newsroom.”
Media analyst Brad Adgate said that foreign reporting can get too expensive, and with no profit motive, it is usually the first target for downsizing and budget cuts. However, CNN can apparently still afford to use holographic reporting strategies. Yes, you read that right. They have been using hologram reporters since the 2008 election, yet they choose to make budget cuts on the investigative teams.
Readers and viewers have tuned out. News seems to be a continuous cycle of conglomerates feeding us the same popular, imitative American stories and us readily consuming them. Thus, we encourage the same type of shallow journalism again and again. There is often little analysis or originality in the reporting as reporters all rush for the same story, approached with the same angle. The foundations of journalism, of truth-seeking and illuminating, become a second priority.
Moral of the story: There are still stories that inspire hope, that call for action and that challenge the way we think about the world. Those stories were not all too common in 2012, but I ask that we make this year different. The readers are the only ones who can inspire change. Seek those stories out and help keep them alive.
