Following the presentation in class on Tuesday, I was struck by the idea that in the United States, international news is often framed and presented as the stories of Americans abroad. Rather than discussing the issues facing the people of a given nation, or those directly involved in a particular event or crisis, American media producers often tell the stories of how these issues have impacted Americans.
Perhaps the most pervasive current example of this type of international news coverage was the coverage that occurred immediately after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. As the group was presenting on Tuesday, immediately my mind jumped to a particular broadcast of the TODAY show that I had watched while at home over spring break. In this particular broadcast, the first story detailed how one American woman used Twitter posts to contact NBC's Ann Curry in an attempt to find her sister, an American English teacher who was missing in Japan following the quake. Appealing to human interests, this particular story was incredibly heart warming as the broadcast showed how Curry not only located the missing woman, but established contact between she and her family. Though this story had a certain level of entertainment value associated with it, it demonstrated the positive way in which international news coverage tracked the story of an American abroad.
Despite this portrayal, this particular broadcast simultaneously showed the ways in which the most important information surrounding international news stories is often sacrificed in order to tell the stories of Americans. The story that immediately followed the one mentioned in the previous paragraph detailed a woman who had already received word that her family, who lived in Japan, were safe and entirely unharmed. Rather than reporting on issues related to Japan's response to the earthquake, the attempt to find missing victims, and planned recovery efforts, this particular news story showed an American woman sobbing in the studio while skyping with her healthy family members, who she already knew were safe. Personally, I was offended by this particular story. Although I recognize that the TODAY show is intended to be an entertainment news broadcast, I felt that it demonstrated the ways in which international coverage is distorted by American media producers, just as Tuesday's group had mentioned.
Click here to access the article about these two broadcasts, and to watch the two videos discussed.
Hilary,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting point you bring up. I totally agree with you - it truly is sad that when such a tragic event caused damages throughout Japan, instead of hearing about Japan is healing as a country, we are hearing about American stories of Japan, such as American's relatives living in Japan. It's really selfish of American news channels. I understand that these news channels are broadcasting to American audiences, but American audiences often want to stay updated on current events around the world as well.