Perhaps the title of this post is not 100% accurate. I guess what I meant to say but did not for the sake of keeping the title short is the following: the recent cyclone in Burma and earthquake in China confirmed something I knew already in a very obvious way: never take the news at face value. Always question the news.
It was too blatantly obvious this time. We all saw it. While the number of dead in Burma was already at least double if not triple the number that succumbed to the earthquake in Sichuan province, China, the latter disaster outdid the former in terms of news headlines by at least a ratio of 5 to 1.
Imagine how many other important stories are currently being dwarfed by less significant ones in the news. And imagine all the other ones that don't even get reported on.
I know we need to be critical of all the news we read. This latest event just proved it in such an obvious way.
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Between media presence (more journalists are based in China then there are in Burma), emotional attachment (think Israel-Palestine) and repetitiveness/boredom (yeah, 20 more people killed by streetside bomb in Iraq, what else is new) and of course the 'importance' of the country in the news (we know the names of the 2 murdered French students in London but haven't even heard of the 24 killed in clashes in Somalia), it is obvious that we - the public - have no control whatsoever on what we get to hear/read/see. Someone else determines our care priorities...
So much for the value of every human life.
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