After spending several weeks in Oxford, I have noticed one
thing in particular about British news coverage: there is very little local
news broadcasted on airways. From what I can tell, most citizens get quick
updates on national and international coverage on BBC and move on with their
day. Coming from America, where almost every city has its own local station, I
found that rather odd. But is it really such a loss?
A quick scroll through Atlanta’s WSBTV’s webpage revealed
that there have been four critical car crashes and five violent crimes
committed in Atlanta in the past two days. When you consider the entire Atlanta
metropolitan area, those odds aren’t terrible, but when the stories are
concentrated on a single news page, they can be a little overwhelming. This
seemed like a prime example of how Atlanta news cultivates its viewers to have
a strong Mean World Syndrome. According to a 2013 Pew study, 71 percent of
Americas who report using broadcast news as their main form of news-gathering rely
primarily on local news channels. If Americans do in fact rely heavily on local
news broadcasts, they may be getting a skewed since of the world from the high
volume of violent crime coverage.
As it turns out, Oxfordshire does in fact have a local news outlet. A scroll through their news page revealed that only two violent crimes
have been reported in the past two days. I couldn’t find a similar study about
British news-gathering habits, but local news outlets do not seem as prominent
among citizens here as they are in America. That fact combined with the lower
number of violent news stories suggest that British media cultivates its
viewers less than their American counterparts to see the country as a violent
place. It is possible that Oxfordshire simply has less violent crime on which
to report, but the differences in coverage are still rather staggering.
Are we more cultivated to believe in Mean World Syndrome than
British consumers? Can we blame it all on local news stations?
Brittany, you raise an interesting point. I have also noticed that there is less local coverage here in the UK, but I think this is partially due to the fact that the UK is much smaller than the US. I agree that the reason the Oxfordshire local news outlet reports less violence crimes might be due to a lower crime rate, but there could be other reasons.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have noticed, BBC reports stories that affect most of the UK. So if a crime had a widespread effect, they would report it, and if it doesn't, BBC would be less likely to run a story about it. The local news outlet you talked about might have adopted that same guide. They might only report on stories (specifically crimes) that affect most of the people in Oxford.
I also think that the UK news media sensationalize stories less often than the American news media. In the US I often see crimes over reported because people react to them (it's what audiences want to hear about). I don't think the entire blame can fall on local news media for cultivating citizens to have a mean world syndrome, but I do agree that the over sensationalizing of crime can influence us as viewers.
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ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate to both of you; there is not near as much local coverage that we have access to here in Oxford. I do agree with Ashlyn that this could be a result from a much smaller scale of people the UK has to report to, when compared to the different parts of the United States. I feel like the prevalence of local news in the US enables each American to feel a source of connection to what is being produced in the media.
ReplyDeleteAs for answering the question of whether we are cultivated to believe the mean world syndrome more than those in the UK, i definitely think that we are. Every morning when I wake up, if I have time, I check my Twitter feed. Usually at this time in the UK, the only account posting updates from the US is WSBTV. Every morning when I am reading what they are posting, I am taken back by the number of negative headlines they are reporting and tweeting about. For instance, this morning when I woke up, this is what I saw:
"Second attack reported on popular train in metro area"
"Armed robber wearing 'scream' mask targeted dollar stores"
"86 year old woman rescued from burning home"
Minister receives death threats..."
"Woman beaten, carjacked at Phipps Plaza"
"Emergency crews search Lake Lanier for missing male"
These six tweets were posted between 3:50 a.m. EST and 3:58 a.m. est. Only one out of the six was remotely positive. With this being the first thing I see in the morning, it is hard to not take this into account and believe that the world is getting more dangerous.
To get a glimpse into the social media aspect in Oxford's news, I went to the Oxford Mail's twitter. For August 6th, there was barely any negative stories reported back to back. The two that were were followed up two positive articles about their soccer team and a human interest story about a prisoner of war's diary.
I think this is a great example of how Americans are primed to be more scared and disbelieving in the crime rate going down. Obviously the environments between Atlanta and Oxford are different, however the back to back hard news coverage of daily violent acts will give us a morphed view of the world.
I think that there is some credit to the statement of whether or not we are more cultivated to believe in Mean World Syndrome than British consumers. I have noticed that in the UK, BBC is really the only big name in news. They claim to be unbiased and impartial to conflicts, which is great, but I think the real problem is that people in the UK are typically only exposed to one side of the story being covered (and a government-sponsored side at that). Without multiple news sources to be exposed to like we are, people in the UK only see major news stories once or twice, whereas we in the US can flip from channel to channel, watching the disaster play on multiple stations over and over. Additionally, local news stations are not quite as big over here as they are at home, suggesting that while people are often exposed to traumatic material in the UK, most or all of it is on a global or country-wide scale. In the United States, we watch shootings and robberies and other crimes that seem to happen right in our back yards.
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