Jon Marshall, who teaches Medill writing labs, asks why the CBS Evening News doesn’t send its reporters to find stories from around the world:
They tell us plenty about North America, of course, and a bit about Europe, and a lot lately about the Middle East.
But Africa? I wouldn’t have known it existed after watching the “Evening News” the last two weeks. South America? Nada.
Zing!
He argues that we’re missing out on a lot of the important trends in the world, such as China’s rise as an economic superpower and Latin America’s turbulent politics. And besides straight-up importance, Marshall says enterprising, international stories will attract viewers, but I’m not sure – it’s harder to care about people who are far away than people a few blocks down.
I agree that TV news should care more about great images from different places, and about surprising viewers with unexpected stories. How many more times must we watch gray-haired people in suits walking ominously down the street?
Article: “Outside Voices: Jon Marshall Suggests More Enterprising Stories … From Locations Outside The U.S.“