Why More Coverage Of Floods In Texas Than In South Asia?

[anotheoldgit]

I ask this because a certain LBC radio presenter, blamed it on racism and bigotry.

Anyone on AB agrees with him?

Further opinions:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/30/why-more-coverage-of-floods-in-texas-than-in-south-asia

[Old_Geezer]

Racism and bigotry must have caused the floods.
Meanwhile USA news stories always get more coverage than stories from less powerful places. Especially if it puts the price of gas up.

[sandyRoe]

More than 1000 people have died in the Asian floods. Thousands are homeless. It's Texas that's getting the most of the news coverage.
Maybe that radio presenter isn't so far off the mark

[mikey4444]

Its got nothing much to do with racism and bigotry. Its the normal "not in my back yard" approach by American media, and its spread to the rest of the world.

The reality is that if there were 10,000's of American people homeless and/or dying in Asia, it would make the front page of every American newspaper.

[jno]

my guess is there are far more people in Britain who've been to Mumbai than Houston. So I'm not sure the "back yard" principle applies here. I don't know what presenter you were referring to, but yes, he has a fair point.

[-Talbot-]

The same question could be asked of why we don't get the same volume of coverage about elections in India, Nepal or Bangladesh.
I bet India has infinitely more coverage of the Pakistani election than the UK election ... Racism and bigotry?

I think not, it is just the way it is.

[anotheoldgit]

-Talbot-

That's exactly what I thought, ask anyone to name the President of Bangladesh and I bet most would have no idea.

[mushroom25]

what often makes news is the unexpected, the rarely occurring. there's a hurricane season every year, but rarely do they create devastation on the scale of Harvey, or as far west as texas - the last comparable event was 12 years ago.

Bangladesh is a country with an average height above sea level between 30ft and 100ft, crossed by 3 major river systems (including the Ganges) that have their sources in the Himalaya, and has average annual rainfall between 8ft and 10ft. put simply, it floods regularly. this year the floods have ben exceptional and if the worls media can be accused of anything, it's being a bit slow to realise the scale - which is now making the news.

[ToraToraTora]

Na most of the septics think the US is the whole world anyway, probably never heard of asia!

[sp1814]

Racism and bigotry is probably not the reason here. It's to do with scale and 'unexpectedness' ('man bites dog' makes the news, 'dog bites man' doesn't).

The 2004 tsunami in South East Asia got massive press coverage because of its scale and because it was so unprecedented.

The Texas flooding is governed by both scale and expectedness, but whilst the current flooding in South Asia is more devastating in terms of numbers affected, it's not unexpected because of the geography of the region.

Also there's timing.

Sometimes two news stories hit at the same time, and one will get far more coverage than the other - for instance, Mother Theresa died shortly after Princess Diana, but I would bet that many would remember that, because our eyes and ears were collectively looking elsewhere.

[Zacs-Master]

Some good reasoning here. I think another factor is that we can relate to it more as it affects towns and cities much like our own.

[pastafreak]

Like mushroom said, storms on the scale of Harvey are relatively rare. And because it was concentrated over the Texas coast, much damage has been done to the energy industry...virtually shutting it down. The eventual cost is predicted to be greater than both hurricanes Katrina and Sandy combined...something like 160 billion.

[Khandro]

AOG; It is getting increasingly difficult to report, say, or do anything any more for whiteys, (I think we are all supposed to get down on our knees and apologise for being , well - white!)

Did you know that there was a demand this year at SOAS London University, that black students should not be expected to read so much 'white philosophers', which would include Enlightenment thinkers like Kant, and they should be dropped from the syllabus in order to make black students feel less isolated.
That Aida was cancelled at Bristol university following a student revolt over white students portraying Egyptian slaves?
and I guess Othello will never be performed on stage again, and Olivier's film version will not be screened, ever.

[Zacs-Master]

Khandro, AOG was aware of the SOAS situation:
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1531808-2.html

[-Talbot-]

That Aida was cancelled at Bristol university following a student revolt over white students portraying Egyptian slaves?



Slaves?
Pyramids?

Let's pull them down!

[jno]

I guess Othello will never be performed on stage again

I take it you missed the season of Othello at the Globe this year, Khandro?

Never mind, the National Youth Theatre are playing it later this month.

[Khandro]

jno; I should have said, as it has been traditionally performed since Shakespeare wrote it.

[jno]

what, with a male Desdemona? Bad luck.

[Khandro]

.... and Edinburgh University's self-styled, 'fancy dress police' insisted that no student must ever dress up as Pocahontas, Mexican sombreros are out, and there's a video of a black student at San Francisco State University physically confronting a white student with dreadlocks threatening to cut off his 'dreads' because 'that is my culture'.

[Khandro]

jno; male Desdemonas went out a long time ago, try going to the theatre and see.

[sp1814]

khando

Might be an idea to put forward your thoughts on what AOG has asked, as others have.

You are (obviously) entitled to post what you want, but in terms of this question it's actually quite interesting to read intelligently argued points as others have contributed.

What you've posted just sounds like the origins of a mild persecution complex.