News "Coverage"

James of OTB noted yesterday that in addition to being the 40th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, it was also the 40th anniversary of the death of C.S. Lewis. I, too, was unaware of that fact prior to yesterday. Clearly the JFK story took priority over the Lewis story. And that is fully understandable.

James further asked: "One wonders, for example, what happened on September 11, 2024 and the week or so thereafter that virtually no one knows about. Newspapers come out every day, regardless of whether there is anything exciting to put in them" (Sean Hackbarth tries to answer, and issues a challenge to the Blogosphere). And, certainly, it is wholly understandable that the events of 911 utterly eclipsed whatever else might have bee going on that day.

However, the question made me wonder what gets ignored on a daily basis by 24 hour news channels just because they are lazy or addicted to the salacious and soap operatic, and not to really covering the news. The juxtaposition this week of the Michael Jackson coverage and the al Qaeda bombing in Turkey the same day provides an excellent example. It is rather obvious which of those stories is more important, yet we all know what dominated the news. And do we really need hours a night on the Laci Peterson case? When's the last time there was serious reportage out of Afghanistan? Or Colombia, the third largest recepient of US foreign aid? Or (fill in the blank).

I know, this is all driven by ratings, although one wonders sometimes if it isn't also the path of least resistance. It is no doubt cheaper to show footage of Jackson's plane landing than it is to report on events half-way 'round the world.