Check out the Larry Kane show...
It's all about how the media covers (or doesn't) international news. The show airs tonight (Sunday) at 9:30pm EST on Comcast's CN8 channel. From Larry's site:
In a roundtable debate on the subject on CN 8’s VOICE OF REASON, taped for tonight at 9:30 P.M., the verdict was unanimous: Americans are not getting the information they need to make proper judgments.
Chris Harper, former network and news magazine bureau chief in the Middle East blames declining overseas coverage for the fact that most Americans have limited knowledge of the forces in Iraq that are fighting each other. He calls it a real crisis of information. That view is shared by Robert Thompson, professor of pop culture at Syracuse University, who has strong words about the lack of foreign news events that are often overshadowed by fluff and puff on local news.
Bob Zelnick, former ABC correspondent told me that he finds it ironic that most young Americans are getting their news from Comedy Central when they should be reading more. And Michael Days, Editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, was candid enough to admit that readers are not coming to his paper for overseas coverage and that there are plenty of outlets for it.
Perhaps the voice of the future on this show is Amy Webb, editor in chief at Dragonfire, a most unusual and in depth news and information website. Amy thinks that the web with its platform and space will eventually be the premiere news site of the future.
I checked Dragonfire out. If you want depth and a special level of reporting expertise, I highly recommend it.
My view on the overseas coverage debate? If you look had enough you’ll find the information you need, but most Americans don’t have the time. Aside from the cable news networks, the major news organizations of this country are doing little to explain the real nature of our foreign challenges in a time when we need it most — when challenges overseas threaten us at home.
Beyond superficial headline summaries, American newspapers and TV outlets must do more to make things clear.
Amy may be right. In a vacuum of in-depth coverage, the internet may be the place to go for news that counts.