A SCANDALOUS LACK OF PERSPECTIVE

As Bob Churchill commented [yesterday's post] regarding the South Asia flood tragedy - a massive monsoon which has displaced millions of people and will cause economic and social devastation in the region - the BBC broadcast news has given it relatively low prominence so far: though at least it was front page web news and made the headlines. Here is the US, it didn't make it into any of the TV news I saw yesterday. I have just scoured The Washington Post, a highly creditable paper. There is nothing on the front page and nothing on the international pages, where news stories with links to US interests (Iraq, Mexico, Afghanistan and France) are highlighted. Then on page 16 - that is, the back page of the front section - there is a column called World News In Brief' where the plight of millions of Indian, Bengali and Nepali citizens is dealt with in a column inch. I'd like to say that this beggars belief, but sadly it does not. It shows what an incredibly distorted view of the world the 'mainstream' media in the rich world still has.