Most media events are unexpected, and very few are prepared. Events such as the World Series, or the Superbowl is when people are prepared but not expecting the results. In cases of the most tragic news such as September 11, or Tsunami, and Earthquakes are people unexpected and the least prepared to understand what is going on, due to the large amount of confusion. One of the most recent event that I remember was the tragedy that hit Japan on March 11, 2011. Immediately when I heard about it, I thought about my father who was visiting China at the time.
That day when I heard about the Earthquake, it was my day off from class and I was at home spending time on the computer when I heard my mother calling for me. When I went to go see what my mother was calling me for I saw on television, that she was watching news on the Chinese Channel about the earthquake that hit Japan.
The Earthquake was recorded to be an 8.9 on the Richter scale, one of the largest in recorded history. The earthquake was not the only thing that devastated Japan. It was the aftershock that causes Tsunami's to continue to wipe out what ever was left, and the the Nuclear Crisis it left afterwards. According to the New York Times "the explosions and leaks of radioactive gas took place in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station that suffered partial meltdowns..."
The story that was covered by the Chinese News Channel also included images and videos of the aftermath where people were shown in shelters, and buildings were tear down, and areas were flooded. The video shown people doing their daily work at the office and then suddenly everything falls apart, and people are running and screaming for their life. The videos and images were quite graphic compared to Fox, NBC, and CBS, when President Obama made a speech about the Nuclear Crisis. The two channels, American, and Chinese in my opinion emphasized on different parts of the tragedy. The American Channel was more concerned about the nuclear crisis and how it may or may not effect the U.S. while the Chinese News Channel gave a more complete story and the number of deaths and missing people in Japan.
According to Ralph E. Hanson, the news channels used mass communication to get the news out to everyone. Mass communication is when the institution uses all means of technology to reach every audience. From being able to watch the Chinese news channel and the U.S. channel I was able to get a full story from all points of view.
NY Times- Japan -Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crisis
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/japan/index.html
Your response shows how media differentiates based on the location the sources get their information from. International news is so different from the news we get in the United States, specifically in New York. It's interesting to know that you were able to get both sides of the story by watching national and international news, something that many people believe that we as Americans need to do more often.
ReplyDeleteYour point about the two news stories being different rings true in my experience too - I watch/read both Indian news and American and the same is true. This really relates to how we talked about ethnocentrism being prevalent in our media - we consider our own issues most important and foreign issues only when they can affect us in a major way. Great points!
ReplyDeleteI vividly remember the strong focus by US media on the danger of the nuclear meltdown post-earthquake, and the concern over the food and power shortage in that country. It is very interesting to read that the news shown in China about the earthquake differed from that shown in the United States. You noted that the videos shown by Chinese broadcasters were graphic in comparison to US news stations. This is interesting, considering the "if it bleeds, it leads" type mentality when it comes to news presentation.
ReplyDeleteYou also mentioned that US news focused on how America could be impacted by the disaster thousands of miles away... a definite portrayal of the nationalistic/ethnocentric tendencies of the media (as mentioned by Hanson in the values of mass media in Ch. 2).