Global Crises: To be or not to be?

While I would love to agree with Beck that the magnitude and sheer numbers of global crises must unite us in cosmopolitan realism, I believe Cottle’s criticism of that argument holds truer of the reality of globalized news today. He argues that the emphasis of national media on that which is relevant to its domestic audiences cannot be underestimated, as news received through this lens undermines a cosmopolitan outlook that might otherwise transcend national identities. Chouliaraki’s work complements this assessment, as her case study of the disproportionate news coverage on the western victims of the 2004 tsunami demonstrates. News outlets shape what is salient in the minds of the people through setting the agenda of what events to think about. When we watch the news, there is the implicit assumption that it will highlight everything that is worth noting of current events. Such is our reliance that if something is not given media attention, then the world continues to revolve as if nothing happened.
The media is indeed inherently selective in portraying news in a way that will resonate with local audiences, whether that is engendering shock and outrage, sympathy, or a sense of distance from a crisis. Events that constitute a global crisis are determined by the media, who hold the power to “dramatize or minimize, transform or simply deny according to the norms which decide what is known and what is not.” Cottle makes an important point that the media exercises its power as an agent of legitimization not only on the audiences that depend on it for knowledge of what is relevant, but also on the field of research and academia as well. The framing as global crises of more supposedly “immediate” issues, such as the war on terrorism and climate change, has generated much research interest, while ongoing crises such as starvation and disease have faded into the background, due to the persistent nature of these issues. I believe that in order for these other crises to be properly addressed, the media must do its audiences justice in bringing these less sensational, but equally important occurrences, to the fore.