Although my last post illustrated how well covered
geographical issues are in the media and what good it can provide, I think it
is fair to say that there are a lot of the things the news doesn't tell us and
students need to be aware of this.
Take for instance this news article that can be accessed via
the link below:
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| An example of the devastation caused. |
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| This image illustrates the location of the 2013 Chinese earthquake. |
How many of you had actually realised that on the 22nd
July 2013 there was an earthquake in China killing around 94 people and
injuring hundreds of others? I am guessing not many, I myself hadn't realised
either. Why you might ask was there little to no coverage? Well if I was to
tell you that this was the day prior to Kate Middleton going into labour with
the Royal baby things might make more sense. Sometimes other stories just take
precedent and as a result what we do hear in the news is often very selective.
If another story will grab a wider audience regardless of the seriousness of
the event being covered, it will get essentially get the headline!
A similar story can be presented when we consider the year
2010 – the year of the Haiti Earthquake that reached 7.0 on the Richter Scale,
and killed hundreds of thousand of people. I am sure most of you and your classroom
students will recognise this event from the extensive coverage in the news. However,
how many of these other earthquakes provided by the US Geological Society can
you recognise from the same year, 2010?
A list of earthquakes for the year 2010. (Data: U.S.
Geological Survey)
Location: Southern Qinghai, China
Magnitude: 6.9
Date: April 13, 2010
Magnitude: 6.9
Date: April 13, 2010
Location: Spain
Magnitude: 6.3
Date: April 11, 2010
Magnitude: 6.3
Date: April 11, 2010
Location: Solomon Islands
Magnitude: 6.8
Date: April 11, 2010
Magnitude: 6.8
Date: April 11, 2010
Location: Northern Sumatra, Indonesia
Magnitude: 7.7
Date: April 6, 2010
Magnitude: 7.7
Date: April 6, 2010
Location: Baja California, Mexico
Magnitude: 7.2
Date: April 4, 2010
Magnitude: 7.2
Date: April 4, 2010
Location: Greater Los Angeles Area, California
Magnitude: 4.4
Date: March 16, 2010
Magnitude: 4.4
Date: March 16, 2010
Location: Offshore Bio-Bio, Chile
Magnitude: 6.7
Date: March 16, 2010
Magnitude: 6.7
Date: March 16, 2010
Location: East Coast of Honshu, Japan
Magnitude: 6.5
Date: March 14, 2010
Magnitude: 6.5
Date: March 14, 2010
Location: Liberatador O Higgins, Chile
Magnitude: 6.9
Date: March 11, 2010
Magnitude: 6.9
Date: March 11, 2010
Location: Eastern Turkey
Magnitude: 6.1
Date: March 8, 2010
Magnitude: 6.1
Date: March 8, 2010
You might well ask the same question as before, why haven’t
I heard of most of them? This provides evidence for my second point. A lot of
what we see in the media is manipulated in that it is news someone has chosen
to show us. There are several reasons that it might have been chosen; the scale
of it is so big it is considered of global importance, or the consequences of the
event might affect us directly (e.g. British deaths amongst the casualties) or
indirectly (e.g. flight paths interrupted or trade links for example). Although
this may seem an extremely pessimistic view to have, I believe it is a
realistic one, and therefore important for students to realise that not all news can and will be presented to us.
Getting students to look at lists of natural disasters from a distinctive year,
such as 2010 with the Haiti Earthquake, can really open their eyes as to what they
hear about from the media and what they don’t.
Finally the last point I have to make surrounding geography
and the media is the somewhat negative light it can shed on the subject. A way to
get students to think along these lines would be to set them an allocated time
on a selected news website and ask them firstly to seek out some positive, geography-
related articles. Then secondly for them to look for positive updates on
devastating events such as the Japanese tsunami – often these types of events
are heavily covered during the time of devastation but little coverage follows
up on the long term rehabilitation processes.
Now I feel I have a more extensive view on the role of the
media and geography I want to finish off in my next blog post by looking
specifically at its role with representing culture...
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