Americans have largely built a comfortable existence where they rarely have to be troubled by what is happening overseas... or what is being done overseas in their name with their tax dollars.
A democracy depends upon an informed electorate. Citizens cannot pass judgment on their leaders' handling of foreign policy if they have no idea what is happening in the world.
So, what if we wanted to know more about the world? What if a few million Americans woke up tomorrow and said, "Hey, I should get caught up on the global situation. Maybe I will buy a newspaper or watch the evening news." Would it help?
Sadly, no.
Coverage of world affairs in mainstream American media is an endangered species. The Boston Globe is closing its last three foreign bureaus. A Harvard University study by Jill Carroll says in 2000 there were 282 foreign correspondents working for American newspapers. Now, when 9/11 and the war in Iraq has supposedly put world affairs back on America's front burner, there are only 240. One blogger said this means there is just one foreign correspondent for every 1.3 million Americans.
Network television is no better. In 1970, CBS had 14 major foreign bureaus, 10 smaller bureaus, and part-time reporters in 44 countries. Today CBS has a total of eight foreign correspondents and three bureaus. In the 1970s, 45% percent of the national evening newscasts were devoted to international affairs. By 1995 that number had dropped to 13.5%.
Sure, these media outlets are just businesses, and they are responding to market forces and audience preferences. They have a First Amendment right to cover whatever issues they like.
Are other outlets any better? The cable news networks have more time to fill, but I see no indication that they are paying more attention to world affairs than they are to politics or celebrity scandals and feuds. Few Americans get to see the CNN International channel, but it does a decent job of highlighting serious news from the rest of the world. Unfortunately very few of those stories ever get played on the main CNN channel available in the United States.
The Internet gives us access to news from around the world. We can read, listen to, and watch the same news as the natives in almost every country of the world. And sites like Watching America translate some of the best into English. Kathy Gill, the About Guide to U.S. Politics recently called our attention to a British documentary, Iraq: The Hidden Story, available on Google Video.
While these options give us unprecedented access into what the rest of the world is thinking, they don't give us much context or explain why particular themes or threads might be important or relevant to Americans.
Who will do the hard work of daily reporting on America's role in the world and explaining the implications to Americans?
