While this TEDTalk is from 2008, I think it nicely summarizes why America is not necessarily as educated about the world.
As the presenter, Alisa Miller points out: “When we analyzed all the news stories and removed just one story, here’s how the world looked. What was that story? The death of Anna Nicole Smith. This story eclipsed every country except Iraq, and received 10 times the coverage of the IPCC report. And the cycle continues…”
Alisa Miller shares the news about the news
This might help people understand why Americans come across to the rest of the world as rather dim. I would like to point out though, that it isn’t just which news sources Americans are consuming their news from, but also (and perhaps what might be leading the way) what news producers are choosing to cover because of cost. Just like the known overall decline of quality programming on network television has coincided with the gargantuan growth in reality television programming. It is far cheaper to produce overall than the programs that were canceled because the writers, directors, actors, producers and so forth enjoyed their jobs and produced quality. The final point I would like to make with this short clip is that, as Miller points out, Americans mainly get their news from television (and at that, FOXNews which unfortunately is neither fair nor balanced).
One hand washes the other…
livingtheamericandreamineurope.com 