Good Afternoon Friends,
You may wonder what the two events could have in common..the only answer to that is that they're both newsworthy.
Heath Ledger's death was breaking news across the board. Every major cable news network, including us at ABC News Now broke into our regularly scheduled program to report this news- even though at the moment the only detail known was "Heath Ledger is dead".
It's a constant battle in television, trying to determine what's newsworthy, what's not. Although my bosses think that O.J. Simpson's preliminary trials are so television worthy that we show the entire proceedings in court for hours, I would have to disagree with it.
But Heath Ledger...there's no arguing with. He's young, he's a movie star, and drugs (albeit prescription) were involved. And although I like to think I have lofty journalistic principles, this is news, even in my book.
Now onto Gaza...here is a news story I wrote on that today:
FOUR PALESTINIANS WERE KILLED IN AN ISRAELI AIR STRIKE LAST NIGHT...
MEANWHILE A BULLDOZER HAS WRECKED A NEW PART OF THE FENCE BETWEEN EGYPT AND GAZA.
THOUSANDS OF PALESTINIANS FROM THE IMPOVERISHED STRIP OF GAZA ARE RUSHING TO STOCK UP ON GOODS IN SHORT SUPPLY. ONE-POINT-FIVE MILLION PEOPLE RESIDE IN GAZA.
THE WAVE OF PEOPLE BEGAN WEDNESDAY AFTER A BARRIER WAS BLOWN UP BY MILITANTS.
ISRAEL SAID IT HAD TIGHTENED ITS BLOCKADE LAST WEEK, MAKING IT EVEN MORE DIFFICULT FOR FOOD, MEDICINE AND SUPPLIES TO REACH RESIDENTS OF GAZA.
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It's short because it's for a news brief. I felt it was fair. Later on I came across an ABC package by a reporter in Israel, who interviewed Palestinians crossing into Egypt and buying items such as cartons of cigarette, laundry detergent, and motorcycles. What's going on? What happened to the humanitarian crisis I was hinting at? Don't these people need food and medicine?
What's really going on in Palestine?
My co-worker Rehab helped me feel much better about the situation by explaining that some reporters are fixating on the smaller, more visually novel aspect.
That made me feel much better. Once again, with ease, I can dismiss the motion that the media is Anti-Muslim. I still stand by my belief that it is not.
She further explained the situation by saying that the media is so heavily entrenched in Israel that they have trouble seeing it any other way. In short they're Israel oriented because they haven't had as much exposure to the other side.
What are your feelings on this?
au revoir,
Sameera
1 comment:
I saw the Gaza story as well, and thought definitely I must have missed something. Who are those militants? Why did they blow up the wall between Gaza and Egypt? What's going on?
I do agree the media can only tell as much of the story as it knows, and so often Western media is not made welcome in Middle Eastern countries. Also, explosions sell!
Heath Ledger caused quite a spike for us, too... not sure if it was bigger or smaller than ANS dying, though. I couldn't stop thinking of his poor kid...
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