Texas explosions

[Bold Seagull]

bad news

why does this get so much more coverage than 40 + deaths in Iran earthquake though.

This. Winds me up.

One reasons will be that foreign journalists are not exactly welcome, and the local press offices don't exactly release information - so it's very difficult to verify and confirm stories and actually get on the ground to report what has happened.

edit: I note this has already been said...

 

[Buzzer]

Why is everyone too coy to admit that we are more likely to be told news about countries where we have strong ties, share a language and whose culture plays a massive role in ours? America and Britain are very close allies. Not to mention the likelihood that British people might be caught up in it or know people who are caught up in it.

It's mainly that. Pure and simple.

 

[Vatican Citys No.2 Keeper]

Why is everyone too coy to admit that we are more likely to be told news about countries where we have strong ties, share a language and whose culture plays a massive role in ours? America and Britain are very close allies. Not to mention the likelihood that British people might be caught up in it or know people who are caught up in it.

It's mainly that. Pure and simple.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on this!

 

[ferris_ferrit]

Why is everyone too coy to admit that we are more likely to be told news about countries where we have strong ties, share a language and whose culture plays a massive role in ours? America and Britain are very close allies. Not to mention the likelihood that British people might be caught up in it or know people who are caught up in it.

It's mainly that. Pure and simple.

That does kind of suggest that some lives are worth more than others though, a concept that doesn't sit too well with me.

What it really comes downto is what the Joker says to Two Face in the Dark Knight. A death in Iran or Iraq "Is all just a part of the plan," something we'd expect, whereas in relatively peaceful countries it is more effecting simply because is isn't expected to happen.

 

[Buzzer]

That does kind of suggest that some lives are worth more than others though, a concept that doesn't sit too well with me.

Not at all. It means that we relate more to it because it's easier to understand for all those reasons I stated. Notwithstanding - America is the most powerful country in the world. Take the presidential elections - covered worldwide. Do you know the Indian, Chinese and Indonesian Presidents' names off the top of your head?

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

That does kind of suggest that some lives are worth more than others though, a concept that doesn't sit too well with me.

What it really comes downto is what the Joker says to Two Face in the Dark Knight. A death in Iran or Iraq "Is all just a part of the plan," something we'd expect, whereas in relatively peaceful countries it is more effecting simply because is isn't expected to happen.

Some lives are covered more extensively by developed TV networks in English.

 

[ferris_ferrit]

Not at all. It means that we relate more to it because it's easier to understand for all those reasons I stated. Notwithstanding - America is the most powerful country in the world. Take the presidential elections - covered worldwide. Do you know the Indian, Chinese and Indonesian Presidents' names off the top of your head?

I understand that it is easier to relate to individuals in countries where the language is English and their culture is similar to ours but it is not impossible to relate to people who don't speak our language and don't share our culture. It's about exposure, if the media in the west exposed us to a wider range of news from the world (And not just the west) then I believe we would treat an attack in Iraq with the same gravitas as in America. Until they do though, we will treat a tragedy in Iraq with less care than that of America, causing an imbalance in how we value individuals lives.

This is why it can be quite refreshing to watch Russia Today or Aljazeera, they are much more "worldly" in their reporting. Not merely focusing on the powerful nations like America and China but the little countries too that the BBC or Sky News would never touch. You just got to wade through the propaganda and bias (Same with any news agency).

 

[beorhthelm]

bad news

why does this get so much more coverage than 40 + deaths in Iran earthquake though.

because the Iranian incident is in a far off land with poor communications and so there's little footage, where as the fertiliser factory is in the middle of a major urban area with lots of media. TV needs pictures innit and they drive the news cycle these days.

 

[Deleted member 18477]

i hope the girl of the father who filmed the explosion has her hearing back.

risking all sorts just to capture some footage. priorities people!!! health first.. everything else 2nd!

 

[Triggaaar]

That's some explosion. Though that shouldn't come as a surprise, given that it was a fertiliser plant.

 

[Triggaaar]

i hope the girl of the father who filmed the explosion has her hearing back.

She'll be alright. She'd have been a lot more traumatised if she'd burst an ear drum.

 

[Hyperion]

....and here is the guy that filmed the massive explosion on his phone.



Unbelievable

 

[Cypriot-Seagull]

Why do people always bring up this silly argument when it's an American tragedy? I just had a look back at what was posted on NSC around the time of the Norwegian massacres. Funnily enough no-one (including you Napper) was moaning that other tragedies were going relatively unreported although in July alone the number of deaths through terrorism was as follows:

55 Iraq
76 Afghanistan
41 China
68 Pakistan
60 Yemen

It almost seems like people love to have a pop at America at every opportunity. Hmm....

I think the point he was trying to make was that had this tragedy happened in say India it would have been mentioned mildly on the news as apposed to in your face headlines just because it happened in the big USA.
Here in Cyprus it was the 4th or 5th news item on the news with an average of 1-2 minutes airtime (basically showing that youtube clip on this thread) only whereas Sky news BBC news CNN Bloomberg etc have it as if it was 911.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

I think the point he was trying to make was that had this tragedy happened in say India it would have been mentioned mildly on the news as apposed to in your face headlines just because it happened in the big USA.
Here in Cyprus it was the 4th or 5th news item on the news with an average of 1-2 minutes airtime (basically showing that youtube clip on this thread) only whereas Sky news BBC news CNN Bloomberg etc have it as if it was 911.

Yeah pretty much this. I don't get why American news is so much more important than poorer countries. OK, so the election affects us majorly, but an explosion in a small town shouldn't be getting so much coverage in our media. I want to hear news about stuff that affects me.

 

[Buzzer]

Yeah pretty much this. I don't get why American news is so much more important than poorer countries. OK, so the election affects us majorly, but an explosion in a small town shouldn't be getting so much coverage in our media. I want to hear news about stuff that affects me.

So you want news that affects you as an English-speaking Westerner living in a first world country or do you want news from different cultures in second and third world states? It seems to me that an explosion in America has far more relevance to us (as I've explained previously) than an earthquake from a country such as Iran. Unless I've got this wrong and you're a Persian émigré.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

So you want news that affects you as an English-speaking Westerner living in a first world country or do you want news from different cultures in second and third world states? It seems to me that an explosion in America has far more relevance to us (as I've explained previously) than an earthquake from a country such as Iran. Unless I've got this wrong and you're a Persian émigré.

I want news that affects me as an English-speaking Westerner living in a first world country. An explosion in a small industrial town in America does not fit this criteria. Please explain how this explosion has relevance.

 

[bWize]

So you want news that affects you as an English-speaking Westerner living in a first world country or do you want news from different cultures in second and third world states? It seems to me that an explosion in America has far more relevance to us (as I've explained previously) than an earthquake from a country such as Iran. Unless I've got this wrong and you're a Persian émigré.

World news should be just that and not selected by rank of personal preference/links with other country's. Just because we have more ties with America, it doesn't mean that it should overshadow other events happening elsewhere.

Just my 2p

 

[Buzzer]

I want news that affects me as an English-speaking Westerner living in a first world country. An explosion in a small industrial town in America does not fit this criteria. Please explain how this explosion has relevance.

I'd wager that a very rare explosion/possible terrorist action in America is likely therefore to be more relevant than an earthquake (which is not uncommon) in an Arabic country where they don't put milk in their tea.

 

[cloud]

I'm thinking its related, I honestly believe it could also be related to the Boston bombing. But we'll see.

My guess would be oklahoma, next.

Boston - due to the Boston tea party protest on patriots days.
Waco - tomorrow's the anniversary (could be a coincidence, however)
Oklahoma - Timothy McVeigh's revenge in 1995.

But it really could be a coincidence.

Boston was also on the same day as Hillsborough and the Titanic sinking

 

[Napper]

Prob should of started a seperate thread as didnt want to take anything away from the explosion. No problem with the amount of air time its got.

Just cant help thinking the media brainwash us all into what is and isnt important by what they show. IMO that Iranian earthquake should still be headline news. Cant help thinking they dont like to show the human side of these countries due to future inevitable actions.

Plenty of media on the earthquake if you search , just our outlets largely dont consider it major news

Strange