Not racism, then.

[jennyaxe]

I was listening to a podcast of a Swedish radio program about reporting. One of the participants was asked how come the news programs spent a lot of time reporting about the storm Gustav and theories on what might happen when it entered the US, and very little time reporting on an actual earthquake in China and an actual flood in India.

The response was that "It's not that we're racist or that we don't care about what happens in India or China - it's simply that what happens in the U.S. is more important."

I cannot properly convey the sound I made on hearing that.

Comments

[hanspersson.livejournal.com]

I heard possibly the same program. One thing that came to me was that this has at least a partial cultural background. Quite a few people here have friends and relatives in the US, but rather few have that in China or India. Not that that rules out the racism argument, but I think it's at least a partial explanation.

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

I think there's probably another argument in favor of 'more important': a tsunami hits Indonesia, and a bunch of people die and a bunch more have their houses destroyed. A hurricane hits New Orleans, a bunch of people die and a bunch more have their houses destroyed, and gas prices all over the world go up by twenty cents a gallon, since that's where about a quarter of the US oil refineries are at. One has a global impact in a way that the other doesn't.

Plus, reporters find it a good excuse to visit New Orleans.

Happy birthday :)

[rodluvan.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday to you!
I hope you have a nice day.
:-)
http://www.acc.umu.se/~wschedin/vacation-2008/horse-08-07-14b.jpg