Dear, dear.

I'm talking about yesterday. How many people do you think died in Iraq yesterday as a result of bomb attacks? In Afghanistan? Syria? People are dying because of acts like this in those places nearly every day, and they don't get a fraction of the coverage Boston has been receiving.



I suppose you missed the bit where I said:

[i"Yes, it's tragic, and [uby all means cover it[/u, but the wall-to-wall blanket coverage is totally unnecessary."[/i

You'll look much less ridiculous if you actually read what people have posted before you jump feet first into a response.

With it being American, first the news will find out who is dead, then interview the nearest and dearest who are clearly in a state of mourning, every once in a while the camera will flick to the interviewer with their best 'i give a sh-t face'
Then there'll be the man/woman who did something brave or selfless, then there'll be the reuniting those people story, then an amputee crying on operah.
The ego centric american attitude of every thing we do and we are needs to be seen and heard, we are more important, our stories matter.
Meanwhile Iraq goes up the wall but if they're getting their oil cheap in USA it doesn't matter.

The USA doesn't decide what we put on the BBC or ITN.
Something like this gets more coverage than something far worse happening in Iraq because we and our news agencies perceive the USA to be "closer to home" and "more like us" than Iraq, regardless of actual geography.
The emphasis is what we and our news agencies put on it, we shouldn't blame the USA for what our news agencies tell us about.

Justin Webb on R4 this morning actually mentioned the Iraq bombing during the reportage of the Boston bombing, to try and put some sort of scale on it.
The irony was that it was only a mention and then they were back to Boston again.

The problem with our coverage lies with our news agencies.

Your "loads of coverage" is an item on the News.
Whilst Boston is getting blanket coverage which is in no way commensurate with the scale of the occurrence.

Fair do, add UK to my rant

How often do terrorist attacks happen in the US?

Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria are WAR ZONES. It's not really a surprise when people die in war zones, is it?

If 20 British soldiers die because of a bomb in Iraq, isn't that a completely different situation to 20 British soldiers being killed in a bomb in Aldershot?

No one knows who is behind the bombs in Boston. Worst case scenario that DH in North Korea has funded it and the world has a major problem facing it.

This and all the other Brits killed by NORAID did not escape me when i saw the news last night

Fair point and, of course, should be taken into consideration.

I suspect the people kicking up a fuss about news coverage know the reasons full well, but don't let that stop a good moan.

Bombings on US soil are HIGHLY unusual and throw up the possibility of either domestic 'white' terrorism (ie Timothy McVeigh), domestic Islamic terrorism, or overseas terrorism (likely to be Islamic, but rumours of North Korea!). Or something new. An unusual high profile event will always get more coverage than the commonplace.

We (the typical Westernised Brit) relate much more to the US. We have closer ties to them, we see their culture on our TVs almost 24/7. Most of us know many Americans personally, indeed some of us work for American companies and go there regularly. It's the next thing to a bombing on British soil.

There is actual TV footage of one of the blasts, and huge volumes of footage of the aftermath. The scale of media focus in the US is on another level entirely than anywhere else on the planet and guarantees blanket coverage. All news networks want dramatic footage and the Boston bombings have delivered in spades. You even see a runner collapse - what more could they ask!?

A bombing on US soil will trigger a much more high profile reaction. From Obama making a speech (and presumably a visit to the site) to the hunt for the perpetrators, the media will be on hand every moment and our news networks will lap it up - again, an unusual event demands increased focus. If domestic, what measures will be taken? If overseas, what will the reaction be and how far will that reaction go?

Bombings in Iraq are commonplace. As cold-hearted as it is, that's a fact. Footage of Iraqis standing around debris is nothing new. Almost guaranteed to be a Sunni/Shiite attack. It doesn't make it right but there it is.

If you don't like it, complain. But guess what, we've all watched it and the news networks know we'll watch it.

I have no evidence but I'd put money on NORAID funds having dried-up in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 which must, surely, have brought home what it's like to have that kind of stuff going on.
Or am I naive?

I am not suggesting that money is still is being donated in Boston or New York. Well i would hope that it is not