Although up until recently America has been the symbol of democracy, we have always had a bit of an arrogant streak. When we were struggling to create a new nation that streak may have been necessary to attain our goals with confidence. We are, however, a country of people who expect other nationals to speak English, but seem to have little interest in learning other languages. In the years under our former president we have become even more insular. Hero worship of Vladimir Putin did not expand our international horizons. Inability to see gun violence for what it is rather than a path to securing another term in congress has made us the only nation that puts political careers over our own lives. The same is true for our inability to face climate change for pretty much the same reasons. We continue to ignore the nations around us at our own peril.
Thank you for writing so eloquently about this topic. I seldom watch network news and choose my news sources carefully and from a catalog of international options. Happenings in Asia and Africa have been overlooked far too long – yet both have much to teach us. Our national and international blunders are many over the years, and the world has too often suffered from our inadequate understanding of life beyond our shores.
I like public interest stories as much as the next person, but our 1/2-hour-long news shows are heavily laden with "feel-good" stories that aren't really news. Our streaming news sources are repetitive, subjective, and create division on both sides of the political spectrum.
Our current hyperfocus on the United States only accentuates our division and keeps us out of touch with the rest of the world -- and the rest of the world knows it and doesn't think too highly of it. Furthermore, if more international news was reported. citizens would understand that many of our current, substantial problems are also world problems. We are not in this alone, and political parties do not have to use this as political fodder.
I also fear that many of our truly great newspapers have frequently fallen into the trap of creating news rather than reporting news. Their headlines are, at times, sensational -- their choices of words are, I fear, used as click bait to get more hits on their websites than to tell a balanced story.
Finally, if I hear one more broadcast beginning with "Breaking News", I might have to completely sign-off all network news broadcasts. Breaking News should be reserved for stories so unexpected and unusual that they truly are breaking news -- like the January 6th attempt to overthrow our election, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, RFK, and JFK, the Challenger explosion, etc.
"It may sound old-fashioned, but I view the news business as a public service." - NO, sirree. News today is entertainment and completely ad-driven - even cable news. When the teaser before the commercial break is longer than the story after, you know you've been had.
"We live in an increasingly interconnected society that transcends national borders." - thanks to this Inter-Net!
I challenge the excuse that news organizations have downsized foreign bureaus due to diminished advertising revenue. The honchos could lower the salaries of news personalities. Some current salaries: Erin Burnett $3M, Lester Holt $4M, David Muir $5M (2021), Steve Croft $5M, Brian Williams $6M, Scott Pelley $7M, Norah O'Donnell $8M (2021), Gayle King $11M, Anderson Cooper $12M, Jake Tapper $13M, George Stephanopoulos $15M, Michael Strahan $17M, Robin Roberts $20M. The honchos could also use advertising revenue from entertainment shows to supplement the news divisions' advertising revenues.
I agree 100% with your analysis. Too often, people in the U.S. don't recognize that the events of the rest of the world have effects on our country, and vice versa. It's easy to fall into the trap that we live in a bubble. One of the reasons that I love John Oliver's Last Week Tonight is that they go in depth on topics not only in the US, but in other countries. At first glance, something like the Philippines presidential election seems to have very little relevance to the general public in the US, but it's all connected and repeats patterns that happen here as well. Thanks to all the journalists who expand our knowledge of events both foreign and domestic!
I fear that the primary sources of reliable global journalism, based upon facts and reality, the online versions of the Washington Post, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, etc, are driving people away from accessing that news with their paywalls. It’s exceptionally annoying to read a headline in one of the news accumulation sites (Google News, etc) and then to attempt to tap on the headline to read the article itself, only to run into the paywall instead. And the paywalls aren’t cheap. The New York Times regular rate is $17.00 every four weeks - that’s $221 per year just to get past the paywall, an awful lot of money to be able to read a handful of articles over the course of a year - and then you run into the individual paywalls for each of the other publications as well. Most people I know just turn away at that point, frustrated and disgusted.
As for social media, if you want people to get interested in China, you’re going to have to post videos of Chinese kittens.
See YouTube videos about the cat and dog meat trade in China. "Diners' Taste Leads to Cat-Nabbing in Beijing," NYT 1-2-00 (paywall). "Chinese Man Caught with 500 Imprisoned Cats," WP 6-13-17, available on Hamilton Spectator's site.
Interesting topic. I have sought out other sources for news beyond the US for decades now. I started with The Christian Science Monitor. Added The Economist. And now with the internet and apps I happily have both the BBC app on my phone and Euro News and CBC Chanel’s on Roku memorized. The US media dropped the ball a long time ago. Whether from arrogance or laziness I do not know. But I do know there are lots more options easily available now and that serves me well.
I was a high school teacher when Channel One, the “subscription“ news program created to bring news into classrooms, launched. While I recall the global reporting that engaged students for 10 minutes every morning, what I remember most was a young guy named Anderson Cooper who was so driven to provide a journalist’s perspective of the world outside his NYC apartment that he volunteered to cover the news—however risky—at his own expense. He was later joined by a young lady, Lisa Ling, whose Asian face was among the first we’d seen reporting from afar on our tv screens. Their dedication to share not only their passions but important stories over the years has not only solidified both their reputations among the finest of reporters, but it’s also brought worldwide events into our small domains. When Anderson Cooper recently visited the home of the Ukraine mother who’d been documenting her days since before the Russian invasion of Kiev, I was reminded again of his youthful engagement in events and with people we’d otherwise not come to know. How fortunate those of us on the other side of the screen have been that you are willing to travel, take risks, ask questions, and share the news that shapes us!
I was a high school teacher when Channel One, the “subscription“ news program created to bring news into classrooms, launched. While I recall the global reporting that engaged students for 10 minutes every morning, what I remember most was a young guy named Anderson Cooper who was so driven to provide a journalist’s perspective of the world outside his NYC apartment that he volunteered to cover the news—however risky—at his own expense. He was later joined by a young lady, Lisa Ling, whose Asian face was among the first we’d seen reporting from afar on our tv screens. Their dedication to share not only their passions but important stories over the years has not only solidified both their reputations among the finest of reporters, but it’s also brought worldwide events into our small domains. When Anderson Cooper recently visited the home of the Ukraine mother who’d been documenting her days since before the Russian invasion of Kiev, I was reminded again of his youthful engagement in events and with people we’d otherwise not come to know. How fortunate those of us on the other side of the screen have been that you are willing to travel, take risks, ask questions, and share the news that shapes us!
Agree, we learn much for our own country by exposure to other countries. Just learned about gun safety in Japan. Their strict gun safety laws were actually instilled by the United States following WW11. While they benefit from negligible mass shootings, we are horrifically impacted by multible mass shootings on a daily basis. Yes, we need to see the comparisons of how well other countries allocate their tax dollars. Most enjoy universal healthcare & education while we suffer debilitating costs & debt associated with both and have less positive outcomes.
When I check on the day's news, I always look at what is going on in the world. We are all citizens of the world, not just the country we live in. Once more Dan has written an excellent essay that makes us think beyond just ourselves.
For any demagogue, the ability to narrow the conversation and direct it is paramount. International affairs broadens one's bandwidth and is the antidote to such mind control, as fictionally documented in "1984". But it's so easy to lean on "comfortable" sources and predigested "news". Taking in "information" is not the same as critically thinking about events. Those who would control us do not want us thinking about the endgame, what things would look like if all the propaganda were carried to its logical conclusions. That requires as broad a bandwidth as possible.
Keep reporting on the world. The US is but a small part of the globe. The earth itself doesn't have boundaries and weather in one place impacts many other places. A ripple can become a sunami .
Although up until recently America has been the symbol of democracy, we have always had a bit of an arrogant streak. When we were struggling to create a new nation that streak may have been necessary to attain our goals with confidence. We are, however, a country of people who expect other nationals to speak English, but seem to have little interest in learning other languages. In the years under our former president we have become even more insular. Hero worship of Vladimir Putin did not expand our international horizons. Inability to see gun violence for what it is rather than a path to securing another term in congress has made us the only nation that puts political careers over our own lives. The same is true for our inability to face climate change for pretty much the same reasons. We continue to ignore the nations around us at our own peril.
Sue
Thank you for writing so eloquently about this topic. I seldom watch network news and choose my news sources carefully and from a catalog of international options. Happenings in Asia and Africa have been overlooked far too long – yet both have much to teach us. Our national and international blunders are many over the years, and the world has too often suffered from our inadequate understanding of life beyond our shores.
I like public interest stories as much as the next person, but our 1/2-hour-long news shows are heavily laden with "feel-good" stories that aren't really news. Our streaming news sources are repetitive, subjective, and create division on both sides of the political spectrum.
Our current hyperfocus on the United States only accentuates our division and keeps us out of touch with the rest of the world -- and the rest of the world knows it and doesn't think too highly of it. Furthermore, if more international news was reported. citizens would understand that many of our current, substantial problems are also world problems. We are not in this alone, and political parties do not have to use this as political fodder.
I also fear that many of our truly great newspapers have frequently fallen into the trap of creating news rather than reporting news. Their headlines are, at times, sensational -- their choices of words are, I fear, used as click bait to get more hits on their websites than to tell a balanced story.
Finally, if I hear one more broadcast beginning with "Breaking News", I might have to completely sign-off all network news broadcasts. Breaking News should be reserved for stories so unexpected and unusual that they truly are breaking news -- like the January 6th attempt to overthrow our election, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, RFK, and JFK, the Challenger explosion, etc.
Thank you!
"It may sound old-fashioned, but I view the news business as a public service." - NO, sirree. News today is entertainment and completely ad-driven - even cable news. When the teaser before the commercial break is longer than the story after, you know you've been had.
"We live in an increasingly interconnected society that transcends national borders." - thanks to this Inter-Net!
And why does "Weather" get a whole channel?!
I challenge the excuse that news organizations have downsized foreign bureaus due to diminished advertising revenue. The honchos could lower the salaries of news personalities. Some current salaries: Erin Burnett $3M, Lester Holt $4M, David Muir $5M (2021), Steve Croft $5M, Brian Williams $6M, Scott Pelley $7M, Norah O'Donnell $8M (2021), Gayle King $11M, Anderson Cooper $12M, Jake Tapper $13M, George Stephanopoulos $15M, Michael Strahan $17M, Robin Roberts $20M. The honchos could also use advertising revenue from entertainment shows to supplement the news divisions' advertising revenues.
I agree 100% with your analysis. Too often, people in the U.S. don't recognize that the events of the rest of the world have effects on our country, and vice versa. It's easy to fall into the trap that we live in a bubble. One of the reasons that I love John Oliver's Last Week Tonight is that they go in depth on topics not only in the US, but in other countries. At first glance, something like the Philippines presidential election seems to have very little relevance to the general public in the US, but it's all connected and repeats patterns that happen here as well. Thanks to all the journalists who expand our knowledge of events both foreign and domestic!
I fear that the primary sources of reliable global journalism, based upon facts and reality, the online versions of the Washington Post, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, etc, are driving people away from accessing that news with their paywalls. It’s exceptionally annoying to read a headline in one of the news accumulation sites (Google News, etc) and then to attempt to tap on the headline to read the article itself, only to run into the paywall instead. And the paywalls aren’t cheap. The New York Times regular rate is $17.00 every four weeks - that’s $221 per year just to get past the paywall, an awful lot of money to be able to read a handful of articles over the course of a year - and then you run into the individual paywalls for each of the other publications as well. Most people I know just turn away at that point, frustrated and disgusted.
As for social media, if you want people to get interested in China, you’re going to have to post videos of Chinese kittens.
See YouTube videos about the cat and dog meat trade in China. "Diners' Taste Leads to Cat-Nabbing in Beijing," NYT 1-2-00 (paywall). "Chinese Man Caught with 500 Imprisoned Cats," WP 6-13-17, available on Hamilton Spectator's site.
Interesting topic. I have sought out other sources for news beyond the US for decades now. I started with The Christian Science Monitor. Added The Economist. And now with the internet and apps I happily have both the BBC app on my phone and Euro News and CBC Chanel’s on Roku memorized. The US media dropped the ball a long time ago. Whether from arrogance or laziness I do not know. But I do know there are lots more options easily available now and that serves me well.
I was a high school teacher when Channel One, the “subscription“ news program created to bring news into classrooms, launched. While I recall the global reporting that engaged students for 10 minutes every morning, what I remember most was a young guy named Anderson Cooper who was so driven to provide a journalist’s perspective of the world outside his NYC apartment that he volunteered to cover the news—however risky—at his own expense. He was later joined by a young lady, Lisa Ling, whose Asian face was among the first we’d seen reporting from afar on our tv screens. Their dedication to share not only their passions but important stories over the years has not only solidified both their reputations among the finest of reporters, but it’s also brought worldwide events into our small domains. When Anderson Cooper recently visited the home of the Ukraine mother who’d been documenting her days since before the Russian invasion of Kiev, I was reminded again of his youthful engagement in events and with people we’d otherwise not come to know. How fortunate those of us on the other side of the screen have been that you are willing to travel, take risks, ask questions, and share the news that shapes us!
I was a high school teacher when Channel One, the “subscription“ news program created to bring news into classrooms, launched. While I recall the global reporting that engaged students for 10 minutes every morning, what I remember most was a young guy named Anderson Cooper who was so driven to provide a journalist’s perspective of the world outside his NYC apartment that he volunteered to cover the news—however risky—at his own expense. He was later joined by a young lady, Lisa Ling, whose Asian face was among the first we’d seen reporting from afar on our tv screens. Their dedication to share not only their passions but important stories over the years has not only solidified both their reputations among the finest of reporters, but it’s also brought worldwide events into our small domains. When Anderson Cooper recently visited the home of the Ukraine mother who’d been documenting her days since before the Russian invasion of Kiev, I was reminded again of his youthful engagement in events and with people we’d otherwise not come to know. How fortunate those of us on the other side of the screen have been that you are willing to travel, take risks, ask questions, and share the news that shapes us!
Agree, we learn much for our own country by exposure to other countries. Just learned about gun safety in Japan. Their strict gun safety laws were actually instilled by the United States following WW11. While they benefit from negligible mass shootings, we are horrifically impacted by multible mass shootings on a daily basis. Yes, we need to see the comparisons of how well other countries allocate their tax dollars. Most enjoy universal healthcare & education while we suffer debilitating costs & debt associated with both and have less positive outcomes.
When I check on the day's news, I always look at what is going on in the world. We are all citizens of the world, not just the country we live in. Once more Dan has written an excellent essay that makes us think beyond just ourselves.
For any demagogue, the ability to narrow the conversation and direct it is paramount. International affairs broadens one's bandwidth and is the antidote to such mind control, as fictionally documented in "1984". But it's so easy to lean on "comfortable" sources and predigested "news". Taking in "information" is not the same as critically thinking about events. Those who would control us do not want us thinking about the endgame, what things would look like if all the propaganda were carried to its logical conclusions. That requires as broad a bandwidth as possible.
Keep reporting on the world. The US is but a small part of the globe. The earth itself doesn't have boundaries and weather in one place impacts many other places. A ripple can become a sunami .
Thank you again. For all just opening up this thread, I commend you to Robert Hubbell's warning about the avalanche of Fake News that will be emanating from assorted right wing organs upon the public sessions of the 1/6 Committee. It'll be like Alice in Wonderland. https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/a-moment-of-truth?r=f38fk&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
This is a world that we can’t ignore. We can’t be isolationist at our peril…