disgusting!

[Broken Toy]

Why do you guys think all countries have a superiority complex. In fact, it goes further than that, its even just which neighbours they regard higher.

This morning, the news was on
"a man in America has been the first person there to be positive for ebola. 3000 people have also died in Africa from the disease"
Also. Also! Really. So this one person just because hes in America gets priority over 3000 deaths.
I understand, maybe its because its out of the continent, but it isn't just this story.

A plane crashed killing something like 96 people a few weeks back.
"5 Brits died in a plane crash along with 91 others"
I am more disgusted at the fact the news care more about what country people were from than the fact a lot of people died.

So why do you think this happens guys?

[allisonmyers]

The problem is not so much who died or got sick but where they did if this guy was in England there would be as much news coverage there as it is since it happened in the states its not the country but the idea that no one is safe is the real story

[Hudor]

i think it's just that a country highlights the facts regarding its own citizens. Although it is bad the significance given to one native is more than a thousand "others" it is the way the news channels operate.

[Typhlosion]

I LOVE this one quote, mis-attributed to Stalin:"A Single Death is a Tragedy; a Million Deaths is a Statistic"
We sympathize for our compatriots, not whoever else. It's natural to sympathize mostly with those you have a greater connection, media sources either also fall into this or try to appeal so such selective sympathy. This dosn't happen because X or Y country finds themself superior, just a way to appeal to emotion and make the story more interesting.

[JamesSuperBoy]

It is just the way media portray events and write HEADLINES, of course wee see back a bit when reporters were rummaging thru cases after the Ukraine event - that was disgusting.

But I do agree with your reasoning.

[Bleid]

Why do you guys think all countries have a superiority complex. In fact, it goes further than that, its even just which neighbours they regard higher.

This morning, the news was on
"a man in America has been the first person there to be positive for ebola. 3000 people have also died in Africa from the disease"
Also. Also! Really. So this one person just because hes in America gets priority over 3000 deaths.
I understand, maybe its because its out of the continent, but it isn't just this story.

A plane crashed killing something like 96 people a few weeks back.
"5 Brits died in a plane crash along with 91 others"
I am more disgusted at the fact the news care more about what country people were from than the fact a lot of people died.

So why do you think this happens guys?

I wouldn't consider it disgusting. People from different areas would like news that's relevant to them in that particular area, and so that is what is provided.

This isn't the same as biased reporting, but demographic reporting.

If something is irrelevant to the people you're spreading the news to, it is likely not to be kept in. Keep in mind, the news still needs to maintain a business-like state.

If a disease is rampaging in the west coast of the United States, I'm not as likely to hear about it as someone who lives in the west coast, because I am on the east coast.

However, say someone travels from the west to the east and brings the disease to the east coast and suddenly it's starting to spread here. Now it's relevant to me, so the news may be inclined to say, "In addition to the hundreds that are afflicted in ______, over 30 cases have been diagnosed now in (relevant area of the country to the viewer of the news).

That's not disgusting or disrespectful - that's simply the news.

I don't expect my news anchor to tell me "EIGHTEEN HUNDRED PEOPLE HAVE DIED, ISN'T IT AWFUL THAT PEOPLE ARE DYING?" No. I can form my own feelings and opinions about the situation at hand. I don't need them doing so for me - that would be introducing a bias. What I ask from the news is relevant information to my life. Just like I don't watch the weather channel to hear about how much rain San Francisco is getting when I live over 1,000 miles away, nor do I want to know how the news anchor might feel about the weather.

Notice some of the titles we call the news by.

"National news"

Often does a state have a "(State name) news/weather"

Cities can even have "(City name) news/weather"

So it isn't disgusting or absurd if they suddenly, going by their demographic, talk specifically about residents from the given nation, state, city, town, etc.

If I travel to Arizona and turn on the news there, I'm likely going to get Arizona's news and not my home town news, yes? I'm going to get news relevant to Arizona residents.

Similarly, if I'm in the U.S. I'm going to turn on the news and there will still be a variety of stories in international news but we are still viewing it from a station within the United States. Hence, the news will likely have elements relevant to the United States.

Think of it in another way, too. Remember when Robin Williams died? Everyone lost their minds and it was all over the news.

But if I was to die right now, how many of you would hear about it?

Not a single one of you, because that is not relevant whatsoever to your lives. The only thing that would happen is that I suddenly stop logging onto this website to post my long-winded mouth noise in the form of text in these threads. No other notification would come up to indicate this fact to you.

However, Robin Williams was a prominent actor and comedian and appeared in numerous films that thousands of families watched and enjoyed, and hence, the news and the people viewing it will consider the death of that man to be relevant to their/your lives and so it is what is presented to you. Unlike my death which would be known to almost no one. Why? Relevance to the demographic. My death will be told to my family members and friends and the necessary administrative and government institutions that get involved with it, and no one else. This is because only those people will actually have any reason to "care" about the information.

Consider too - what if I lived in your town/city and I was the first person in the country diagnosed with a rare contagious disease that was previously only found in other countries?

You might hear about my death then - it just became relevant to your life.

Fair enough?

[CosmicNoodle]

Why do you guys think all countries have a superiority complex. In fact, it goes further than that, its even just which neighbours they regard higher.

This morning, the news was on
"a man in America has been the first person there to be positive for ebola. 3000 people have also died in Africa from the disease"
Also. Also! Really. So this one person just because hes in America gets priority over 3000 deaths.
I understand, maybe its because its out of the continent, but it isn't just this story.

A plane crashed killing something like 96 people a few weeks back.
"5 Brits died in a plane crash along with 91 others"
I am more disgusted at the fact the news care more about what country people were from than the fact a lot of people died.

So why do you think this happens guys?

This is something I've been meaning to make a thread about EVERY time I put on the news. It pisses me off as well. Why can't humans just, ya know, not be dick? (says me)

[DeadEyes]

But the fact is, there is a superiority complex, we all look down on Africa.
You will never hear somebody say that Africa is a better country than any other.

[Miserabilia]

Typical media. Feeding the country with what the majority of them want. It's quite clever really.

[James Dean]

It is, I feel ashamed to be American sometimes due to how much of en entitled country we are. I'm not complaining as I do like the liberties I have living in the United States, I don't like how much we depend on technology in this country, we don't really care about charity that much. Yeah the ALS thing has popped up recently, but it's only really a fad because everyone was doing it. A lot of has to do with our equal social class. Rich people here are usually shunned upon and they aren't really respected as working class people in this country, where in countries back east, millionaires and rich people are idolized and treated like royalty if they aren't already royalty.

We also love attention in this country so the news and media always try to alter things to make the story more attractive to the people.

[jessie3]

The media is more focused on Ebola because it's a health crisis, it's a wide spread epidemic that could effect thousands if not millions of people. Yes a plane crash might effect a few hundred but that's not the important story here. People are more concerned about staying healthy and not contacting this deadly disease.

[thatcountrykid]

i know i worry more when its my countrymen or can effect me directly. yeah its sad n africa but really its not a problem. yeah its sad all those people died but 5 british people might mean more to them

[DeadEyes]

i know i worry more when its my countrymen or can effect me directly.

We're all like that, the farther, the better.

[PinkFloyd]

In the plane crash story, the story took place in Great Britain, right? That right there is exactly why they singled out the Brits----because the story took place in Great Britain...Where British people live. Fact is that if you're british, you're going to pay more attention if you hear about people of your own nationality. It doesn't mean you don't care about other nationalities; It just means that you're more interested in your own nationality because you can relate to them. Same goes in the US or anywhere else. Sure, they could leave out the specific amount of Brits that died, but that would bring down the impact the story has, thus bringing down ratings.

As far as the Ebola thing goes, (Sorry if this sounds terrible) people have been dying in Africa of Ebola for a long time. It's old news. If news stations made a story about it, would be like if today, Japan announced that their car manufacturer called Honda makes a small and economical hatchback known as the Civic.

A good news story focuses on things that are out of the ordinary. It's no secret that someone diagnosed with Ebola in the states is a big deal. That ladies and genltlemen, is why it's a news story.

PS: I'm sorry if I came off as a tool there. I'm up at 1 am wired on Caffeine.

[Capto]

The ebola crisis is out of the ordinary much as the Islamic State invasion of Iraq is.

[ScottieDog]

I think it's the news media wanting to make the story more interesting to their audience. It's always going to be harder to get people interested in stories from halfway around the world than it is to something happening in their own country. So the British media are going to be interested in British deaths on plane crashes. A bit like the nurse who became infected with Ebola being the first person to be catch the disease outside of Africa (all previous cases caught the disease in Africa and were flown out). I'm sure the media in Spain are giving her a lot more coverage than people dying in Sierra Leone from the same illness.

[Capto]

Naturally so.

[project_icarus]

You will never hear somebody say that Africa is a better country than any other.

Oh you're totally right, Africa is by far the worst country on Earth.

[DeadEyes]

Oh you're totally right, Africa is by far the worst country on Earth.

Country, continent, place.