Nationalism
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Look at that face! So cute, holding his Emmy, all proud. This is not the reason I'm blogging tonight, although I'm watching the live C-SPAN stream online of the Emmys.
This is a question that I think about a lot. Almost obsessively, really. When watching, reading or listening to the news, there is always an emphasis on nationality. I get news alerts in my inbox from CNN, one of which the keyword is "Canada," because being Canadian, I like to know when Canadian news hits CNN. I got an alert a few minutes ago about a story in Thailand, about free shelter for widows of war there. This is the reason why it came into my mailbox:
On September 23, bombings in a tourist town claimed the insurgency's first Western fatality, a 29-year-old Canadian teacher, and wounded an American and a Briton.
So, my question as a person is why does nationality seem to matter so much? It's always reported as "blank killed, this many Americans die." I know as a journalism student, that the answer is because facts matter, and because it hits closer to home if someone from your own country has been killed elsewhere. But as a person, it's always confounded me because we're all the same. Nationality doesn't matter. It's almost insulting to everyone else there that died, and are not addressed in the same manner simply because they don't come from the right place. It bothers me. It always has. It shouldn't matter. We should honour all people the same way, no matter the country they come from. This nationalism, division, only causes problems and differences between everyone. My political science teacher would tell me I'm being an idealistic liberal right now, but can't we all just get along and be from the earth?
posted by Chelsea at 11:15 PM
2 Comments:
Chelsea I live in MI just across the river from Windsor Ont. and beleive it or not I watch the Canadian news a lot . I grew up watching Gordon Sinclair, Pierre Burton and Nolton Nash(sp). I learned a lot about Canadian politics and news through them and people thought I was crazy because I did.
But to answer your question I don't know why Nationality has to play a factor in news reporting? Could it be ratings; if 360 or CNN interweaved stories about something in Canada or some other country where the US isn't involved would the public watch? I don't think so plus today some Americans are just so fed up with with things in the US they don't care to even watch the news.
Maybe someday there will be a joint newscast or one that gives fair and widespread coverage , but until then I'll continue to watch the CBC, CNN, etc.
It is about ratings, about making a story hit home. When a story has an American or a Canadian in it, we can relate. We feel an affinity because of the story's relative "proximity." It's one of the things they look for in a story when deciding whether or not it's news. But to me, it just seems disrespectful to say this many Americans/Canadians/whatever were killed.
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