America and the Media

There has been a pressing question in the back of my mind regarding America and our media outlets. Does the media present to its viewers what they want to hear, or does the media decide what we want to hear?

Tuesday night I was catching up on the news and the there were three main headlines that stood out to me on various news channels and programs. First, of course, was the Zimmerman trial and its outcome. Second was the media coverage of the eagerly awaited royal baby. Third was news on Egypt and the many people killed there during their most recent protests amidst quite possibly the greatest revolution in the Middle East. The order of these headlines is what sent me to ponder whether it was the American people I should worry about, or whom we are trusting to educate and prioritize for us.

Kate Middleton is a week late in delivering the royal baby and more cameras surround the designated hospital than I have seen in any protest coverage in the recent Middle East outbreaks. I would like to think that these facts speak for themselves.

It came as no surprise that the Zimmerman trial was first to be reported and debated, with the American obsession with racial tension and law corruption. The decided innocence of George Zimmerman, on trial for second-degree murder or manslaughter of Trayvon Martin, has sent our country into an uproar. While the outcome of this trial and America's reaction is another media-fueled topic, the point of this article is not to debate whether it was justified. Yes, the Zimmerman trial is something America should keep a close eye on, but should it be ranked above the more current and more outrageous circumstances that the entire country of Egypt is facing?

With seven killed and hundreds injured in the most recent outbreak of violence during protests in Egypt and the possible reinstatement of President Morsi by his supporters it is frustrating to see that our media outlets are pushing these facts below the birth of a baby in another country and the, days old, outcome of the Zimmerman trial. What is even more frustrating is the realization that most of Americans are probably poorly educated, or completely uneducated, on the Egyptian struggles and democratic friction that began in 2011 and continues today.

This brings me to the question of who is to blame for America's disinterest and lack of knowledge of the Middle East. The most common misconception, in my opinion, is that the media tells us what we want to hear. While this is an understandable approach to explaining the situation, it has no reasonable comparison. The media decides what we want to hear and always has. It is arguably the only source America has for updates on the rest of the world considering everyday people aren't able to go overseas and check it out first hand.

With that being said, it is up to the media to decide what we should know about the rest of the world and its importance. Of course, citizens have a social responsibility to educate themselves on the world around them and decide how they feel about it. Unfortunately, that responsibility does not follow through in most people and the media is left to be the sole influence of the malleable minds of this country. This idea is not comforting to myself nor should it be to the future of this country and its involvement with our neighbors that remain in unrest.