12 hours ago
World should not obsess about American political trivialities
Time was when financially healthy news organizations had deep enough pockets to deploy their reporters to remote corners of the world. Well-staffed foreign bureaus in capitals from Beirut to Bogota ensured that landmark events — wars, revolutions, coups, epidemics and natural disasters — not only made headlines but received sustained coverage. But the collapse of the traditional business model since the advent of the internet has, over time, refocused news media attention and scarce journalistic resources away from the turning points of history — and toward the trivial twists and turns of American politics. This transformation from comprehensive global coverage to domestic-focused reporting represents one of journalism's most significant shifts in the digital age.
The financial foundation eroded as long-profitable newspapers steadily lost classified advertising revenue and giant television networks found their overseas staffing budgets squeezed. This happened even as economic developments collectively termed globalization briefly inspired books with upbeat names like 'One World, Ready or Not,' 'The World is Flat' and 'The Great Convergence.'
Today, the demands of clickbait economics are such that global news coverage frequently centers on social media posts by the US president or vice president, US election campaign gaffes or obscure debates in the New York mayoral race. Meanwhile, across Asia, Africa and Latin America, decisions and developments that touch the lives of millions of people are largely ignored.
Consider Asia. The true death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic remains a mystery even now. Data shows significant excess mortality across the region during 2022 and beyond, with multiple countries experiencing substantial underreporting of deaths, though the exact timing and scale vary considerably by nation. Such untold stories deserve media attention not because a handful of nongovernmental organizations think so, but because the world needs to better understand the mistakes that likely caused the pandemic, which in turn led to severe social and economic disruptions and mass deaths.
The global media industry's obsession with every Trump post and every Senate procedural skirmish has no practical benefit
Arnab Neil Sengupta
Turning to South America, how much coverage have troubling developments in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia and Bolivia received internationally in recent times? Hardly any. Cuba, politically frozen in time as it remains, flits in and out of the headlines depending on whether the news from the island state is bad or worse. Even relatively stable Chile's post-Pinochet trajectory — a mix of economic stability and protests against inequality — is a compelling story that seldom gets told.
Meanwhile, health, education, environment, migration and tech success stories from the Arab world compete with endless commentary on American, British, French and German electoral politics and the private lives of their leaders. A UNESCO report found that global exports of cultural services doubled between 2005 and 2019, but how often do we hear about that in newscasts compared with stories about the British royal family's contretemps during the same period?
As already stated, one reason for this oversimplification of news coverage is financial. Newspapers once supported worldwide coverage with print advertising revenue. Now, they rely on web clicks, chiefly driven by domestic politics. Another is less tangible: there is an exaggerated belief in American exceptionalism. When the US sneezes — literally, when a prominent investor or tech CEO coughs on camera — it can supposedly have global consequences. By contrast, when a hurricane or flood drowns a Caribbean or Pacific island, it is likely to be treated as an ephemeral story of limited relevance to the rest of the world.
None of this is to play down the international importance of US politics. The American president still oversees the world's largest military and economy. Foundational ideas of global policy continue to emerge from institutions and offices in Washington and New York. But the global news media industry's obsession with every Trump post on his social media platform and every Senate procedural skirmish has no practical benefit. It threatens to convert journalism into a form of gossip, distracting citizens everywhere — think Middle East — from profound local and regional challenges.
The world stands at several inflection points: Asia's overreliance on exports to the US and deepening geopolitical divides; Africa's economic dynamism and population pressures; Latin America's democratic backsliding and left-wing resurgence; Global North-Global South disagreements over climate change culpability and costs; and migration's impact on Western societies and politics. These are matters of life and death. What does not move the global needle even slightly are exchanges between commentators and inexperienced American podcasters. But they generate clicks and, so, they drown out the rest of the world's voices.
The media's addiction to political theater is a problem regardless of its geographical location. It promotes a narrow worldview, breeds parochialism, encourages tribalism and blind loyalty, and has a negative impact on impressionable young minds. It also provides fodder for conspiracy theories and the delusion that every disappointing development in the world somehow traces back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
What citizens of this interconnected age can do as news consumers is to force content providers to get their journalistic priorities right
Arnab Neil Sengupta
Traditional media ownership concentration has worsened the coverage imbalance. Public service broadcasters and independent outlets — crucial for fair and balanced reporting complemented by unemotional analysis — have shrunk or fallen silent. Indeed, some non-Western media outlets now offer far more coverage of global crises than the big-name TV networks, although they too are not free of political bias and selective outrage.
What citizens of this interconnected age can do as news consumers is to force content providers to get their journalistic priorities right. That would mean restoring international bureaus, investing in foreign-language journalism and teaching audiences why, say, landmark economic reforms in Argentina matter more than the next theatrical debate in the US Senate.
That would also require major media company owners to ask tough questions: Why are reporters given freedom to slant their reports in a way that helps them amass followers on social media platforms? Why have entertainment metrics replaced analysis of impact on policies and public opinion? Why are some conflicts given much greater prominence over others?
Perhaps there is a way to reset the narrative. If the international audiences of social media and online behemoths insist that the gaze of their algorithms wander beyond the Beltway bubble. If they demand that media companies — particularly those based in the world's biggest economy — reinvest in the principles of old-school reporting and newsgathering from around the world. Because global challenges could be better handled without trivial American-centric distractions.
Media companies should commit to allocating at least 15 percent of editorial resources to international coverage, establishing benchmarks for global story diversity. Imagine the long-term benefits of in-depth stories from Nairobi, Caracas and Jakarta. What could go wrong with sending reporters to speak to hapless African climate refugees in the Sahel or forgotten Kurdish veterans of the campaign against Daesh in northeast Syria? International audiences would finally see that America is not the globe.
The US will likely remain a superpower, but it is not the be all and end all of human existence. The rest of the world still matters.
