Today I share a video from TED (it means technology, entertainment, design) how news shapes people’s worldview. Alisa Miller, head of Public Radio International, showed two maps to the audience: one is the world map; the other one is the news map from February, 2007.
According to the speech, 79% are U.S. news stories and 21% are international news stories. On the international news, most of the stories are about Iraq, evidenced on the news map as a giant green piece. Only 1% news stories related to issues in Russia, China and India.
In Mediating the Message in the 21st Century, the authors said “media organizations could influence the content (p.7).” If there are more American news organizations around the world, American people will get more international news. Miller states many news organizations reduced the number of foreign bureaus by 50%. Probably, that is one of the reasons we have less international news today.
“Covering Britney is cheaper,” Miller said. There is nothing wrong that people like to read celebrity news. The audience chooses what they want to see and the media worker need to consider what their audience wants and keep a balance.
Strategically Communicating 
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