Missing Headlines

[LouiseVargas]

Dear Red,

I look forward to your coverage (on the front page) ASAP of the story of the multiple (planned ahead of time, with sleeper cells INSIDE the hotels) attacks on Mumbai?

This is an important international story. It started on Wednesday, today is Thursday and tomorrow is Friday ... still no comment from Scared Monkeys.

LV

[caesu]

news on Frontpage is that one person is trampled to death by a stampede of greedy bargain hunters.

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2008/11/28/black-friday-takes-on-new-meaning-walmart-worker-trampled-to-death-in-black-fridays-stampede-in-long-island-ny/

one dead American equals ten dead British, who equal a hundred dead Europeans, who are equal to a thousand dead Asians, who are equivalent to a hundred thousand dead Africans.

that's how it goes with attention span in the news media.

[klaasend]

I take offense to BOTH comments from Louise and Caesu.

1.  Neither you NOR I have a right to tell Red what to post on the front page of SM.  There is no lack of coverage of the Mumbai events on TV right now.

2.  Caesu - who are you quoting?  Nobody said that that I can find, at least nobody at SM except YOU.  Is that how you feel? 

[caesu]

I take offense to BOTH comments from Louise and Caesu.

2.  Caesu - who are you quoting?  Nobody said that that I can find, at least nobody at SM except YOU.  Is that how you feel? 

i am not quoting anyone here.
it's just an old well known equation about how the media covers incidents with a large number of casualties.
only when Westerners are victim it will get mass attention.

In newsrooms, he notes angrily, there is:

this well-known algebra for headlines: "One dead American is equal to a handful of dead Europeans." Hundreds of Asians might die to "rate" the same treatment. And bottom of the list, shamefully, are the thousands of Africans who must die before their tragedy will measure up at all.

http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/3487886.html

with these Mumbai attacks with 150 deaths, there appear to be a handful Westerners.
if there were no Western victims at all, i doubt there would be much reporting about it all.

12 March 1993 Mumbai bombings 257 deaths
25 August 2003 Mumbai bombings 52 deaths
11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings 209 deaths

[crazybabyborg]

caesu, there are any number of news stories, tragedies, etc. that have no particular relevance to America that are always well covered by American media. Terrorism anywhere happens to be very significant to the US, and to it's citizenry because it's a crime against humanity, regardless of country.

Please ask yourself how you'd take it if American posters took every opportunity to be unjustly cynical toward your country. I doubt you'd welcome it, and bet you'd quickly point out that we'd have a better understanding if our opinions were based on observations and vesture from living within your country.

I resent the pot shots constantly lodged from foreign soil, and I'm confident others do as well. We could start a thread about the Netherlands, but it's not my desire to encourage this stuff.

There's a difference in legitimate, fair discussion with cited sources and just throwing out ugly remarks. I, for one, am really tired of it.

[LouiseVargas]

Klaas,

I apologize for offending you. I did not "tell" Red what to post on the front page. I suggested the terror attack was a very important international story and I looked forward to his take on it.

I am sorry about the whole thing. It will never happen again.

Louise

[caesu]

caesu, there are any number of news stories, tragedies, etc. that have no particular relevance to America that are always well covered by American media. Terrorism anywhere happens to be very significant to the US, and to it's citizenry because it's a crime against humanity, regardless of country.

Please ask yourself how you'd take it if American posters took every opportunity to be unjustly cynical toward your country. I doubt you'd welcome it, and bet you'd quickly point out that we'd have a better understanding if our opinions were based on observations and vesture from living within your country.

I resent the pot shots constantly lodged from foreign soil, and I'm confident others do as well. We could start a thread about the Netherlands, but it's not my desire to encourage this stuff.

There's a difference in legitimate, fair discussion with cited sources and just throwing out ugly remarks. I, for one, am really tired of it.

i am talking about the western media in general.
i presume you know there is more to the Western World than just America.
i only quoted that equation which is well-known, at least in journalism jargon.

what i find especially curious with this terrorist attack is that on most western media the headline was for days that 'westerners were targeted'.
but the overwhelming majority of the victims are Indians.
as if they weren't targeted, but are 'collateral damage' or something. 

again, if there were ONLY Indian victims i doubt it would have been reported so much in Western media.
there are almost daily terrorist attacks there.
some very deadly in Pakistan this year. not very much media attention at all.
while what is happening in that region is very important in the War on Terror, even when no Westerners die in every attack.

i just follow all media critical, my observation may come over as cynical.

in the way you responded i recognize that you see where i am talking about and that i touched on something else you wouldn't have replied.

[crazybabyborg]

snipped:

After following terror incidents within India for the past few years, it seemed like the horrible series of terror attacks that occurred in Mumbai over the past 24 hours contained something new and alarming.  Previous acts of Muslim terror have targeted purely Indian targets like the Parliament and Mumbai’s financial district.

Yesterday’s terror specifically targeted tourist destinations and a Jewish institution.  The terrorists specifically sought out British and U.S. passport holders.  They also attacked Nariman House,  the Chabad headquarters in the city and killed three people there while taking several hostages.  This is an escalation of tactics.

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/11/27/mumbai-terror-attack-targets-foreigners-and-israelis/

Yes, I know that America does not comprise the whole of Western Civilization. The reports are that the terrorists specifically looked for US and British citizens, and Jews. Yes, I know that Indian citizenry have suffered the greatest loss of life. I know these things because American media that I have watched have reported it. The question remains, "Who was the target and why?" It's going to take a while for that to be fully answered, but clearly Westerners were part of the target, and probably Indian locations that accommodates them or Jews. It seems at this point that there was also motive to further enrage Indian Pakistani relationships. I would think that the attack on the maternity hospital aided that objective. That has implications that also involves the West and is a threat to efforts against worldwide terrorism.

This attack was far better planned and more intricate than the 9-1-1 attack. The motives seem to be compounded, and the success for the terrorists will or will not occur depending on what the responses in the aftermath are.

I think that the already known targets in India (from the terrorist's own questions during the attack) earmarks this attack as something "new and alarming" and also signifies an "escalation of tactics" (quote from above article). American news recognizes that and reports it as an important factor. It is newsworthy.

I'm curious. Would news networks in the NL give more time to a terrorist story in India where NL citizenry were specifically targeted by a group that had, without provocation, attacked and killed 3,000 private NL citizens while destroying buildings that stood as representations of freedom within their homeland? Would they follow with specific NL interest the tangible evidence of daily verbal threats from madmen, a story that could indicate that existing nuclear weapons within Pakistan were less secure against takeover by the same regime that committed the attack against the NL and continues to relentlessly vow to do it on a larger scale again?

Race or foreign citizenship is a non issue in this story, at least to Americans. Foreign citizenship and how that relates to this global problem of terrorism and our commitment to our allies that have also been targeted is of specific political interest in a war we are committed to fight. This story has legitimate legs as a tragedy and crime against humanity, regardless of political impact, but the circumstances and implications around this particular tragedy morph it into a deeper story.

[Bearlyhere]

caesu, there are any number of news stories, tragedies, etc. that have no particular relevance to America that are always well covered by American media. Terrorism anywhere happens to be very significant to the US, and to it's citizenry because it's a crime against humanity, regardless of country.

Please ask yourself how you'd take it if American posters took every opportunity to be unjustly cynical toward your country. I doubt you'd welcome it, and bet you'd quickly point out that we'd have a better understanding if our opinions were based on observations and vesture from living within your country.

I resent the pot shots constantly lodged from foreign soil, and I'm confident others do as well. We could start a thread about the Netherlands, but it's not my desire to encourage this stuff.

There's a difference in legitimate, fair discussion with cited sources and just throwing out ugly remarks. I, for one, am really tired of it.

i am talking about the western media in general.
i presume you know there is more to the Western World than just America.
i only quoted that equation which is well-known, at least in journalism jargon.

what i find especially curious with this terrorist attack is that on most western media the headline was for days that 'westerners were targeted'.
but the overwhelming majority of the victims are Indians.
as if they weren't targeted, but are 'collateral damage' or something. 

again, if there were ONLY Indian victims i doubt it would have been reported so much in Western media.
there are almost daily terrorist attacks there.
some very deadly in Pakistan this year. not very much media attention at all.
while what is happening in that region is very important in the War on Terror, even when no Westerners die in every attack.

i just follow all media critical, my observation may come over as cynical.

in the way you responded i recognize that you see where i am talking about and that i touched on something else you wouldn't have replied.

caesu, while I don't watch the news, I will attempt to give you a reply.

I pray for respect for life for all people.  I do not think one life is more important than the other.  How many of those killed had handicaps?  It was not reported.  How many were of color, were Christians?  Does it matter?  They are all people and we should all be angry because they are human. 

Would I be angry if it was an animal shelter that was bombed?  Of course I would.  I am not comparing animals to people, only sayin'...

I can choose to go about life two ways, being angry about the way things are, singling out everyone who I think feels differently, and attack them for it, or I can be the change that makes people look at things differently.  Which one are you? 

Attacking people with weapons or words, only makes people angry and gives them a common enemy.

Just my 2 cents.