Wars, politics, and violence tend to receive continuous media coverage. In the midst of these really big conflicts, other stories that may seem less important are put on the back page or not reported at all.
Some of the stories labeled as less important are in fact worthy of public attention--some demand it.
For instance, the salmonella outbreak in a Georgia peanut plant that ships all over the U.S. Approximately 501 people in 43 states have been afflicted, and eight people have died. California is one of the states most affected from the outbreak.
If people are not aware that the FDA has warned people to avoid any foods containing peanut paste, the result can be deadly.
Luckily, this subject has been continuously covered on both the national and local newscasts. However, despite the fact that the outbreak continues, I haven't seen continuous coverage in The Mustang Daily or The Tribune.
A person who relies on the local newspaper for information may just end up a victim of salmonella poisoning.
Another subject that a person who reads the local newspaper and/or watches the local news would miss is information about a global warming study. The study, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, found that the effects of global warming are irreversible. Even if we stopped emitting carbon dioxide completely, the climate will not return to normal after 100 or 200 years. BBC released this information on their website.
This subject is important to the public because it communicates the extent of the environmental problems we must solve. The more aware the public is about the dire situation our environment is in, the more likely we will be able to collectively make the necessary changes to survive on this planet. Obviously, we need to start making changes now!
Beyond Earth, people are actually taking vacations in space. I find it fascinating that NASA is opening the space shuttle to those who are willing to pay a hefty price.
This story about space vacations appeared on the local news in the past, but I haven't heard or read anything about it since. I would be interested in learning more about this story out of curiosity.
It may be that more information on space isn't reported because of its lack of proximity to our daily lives. However, from an entertainment perspective, a story that describes people taking space vacations seems newsworthy to me.
Another newsworthy story that is lacking coverage ironically concerns the inauguration. Some people who attended the inauguration were told by police to go into an underground tunnel to reach the white house. These people ended up trapped in underground tunnels.
The story is being further investigated, but the initial makings of this story are not well publicized.
This story is important because in an event such as people being trapped, the media can draw enough attention to the subject so that more people are not left in a threatening situation in the future.
I think you make some pretty strong points in your first two posts, particularly the idea that many people prefer to stay uninformed even though they have so many resources at their fingertips. A sad commentary on the pitfalls of having so many luxuries in life?
ReplyDeleteThe salmonella outbreak has received extensive coverage from the mainstream, and you rightly note that there is more to this than what we have seen. Only a few media stories I have seen make mention of the lax regulation in recent years that could contribute to the release of unsafe food in our food supply. While we get so much information about so many things, very little of it is in-depth reporting that would help make the connections between government policies and our day-to-day existence. It even comes down to peanuts! But as a young father noted to me, he worries about it constantly now, since his son eats peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches nearly every day.
I remember reading about the salmonella poisoning as well, but then it did fade away though the problem is still not resolved. When someone relies on one source of media, they are putting themselves in danger of not knowing the whole story and not knowing if the story is still going on. When I was in Ralphs last weekend in the cracker/cookie aisle there was a sign posted that read something along the lines of, if you purchased any of the below items in the past two weeks, you probably shouldn’t eat them. I thought it was funny, but at the same time scary. This is a big issue and it is not being reported as if it is a big issue.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Global warming was one of my choices as well. As for the inauguration….I had never heard about that story! People really got trapped in underground tunnels? That is a story that I am going to look into out of curiosity….good job!
I thought you brought up a lot of key points. News on the Salmonella outbreak has been everywhere-but it's true that I haven't seen an article for it in the mustang daily.
ReplyDeleteWeird about the people trapped in the underground tunnels. I haden't heard anything about that. so i guess it really does need some more news coverage. Well rounded blog post.