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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Thursday, September 27, 2007

What's news?

9 people killed in Myanmar and it leads every newscast. A wave of bombings kills 50 in Iraq, and it's not even mentioned.

I've never understood it.

6 Comments:

  • Apathy. The public can't deal with it all and we're powerless anyway. Iraq is the GOP's problem.

    The Burma thing will blow over soon enough IMO. The protests have been timed to embarrass China with the Olympics coming up. You only have to look at the muted reaction in neighbouring countries like India and South East Asia.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:25 PM  

  • Because it's newer.

    Also, because it has the potential to radically alter another source for China's oil. And, if a softer, less autocratic government emerges, it will spell new vibes for the region: travel, Western influence, Buddhism as a force for change (possibly Tibet?), etc. How will a changed Myanmar affect Thailand or Indonesia?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:08 PM  

  • Most of the regime's support comes from China, India, etc.

    And, I don't think the "popularity of this story is as deep as your analysis.

    I think it's one of those "we have video" stories. If there weren't pictures coming out, this would be way down the stack.

    The violence in Iraq is magically perceived to have started its decline right as the Iraqi government instituted its ban on photographs of attack sites and hospitals.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 6:23 PM  

  • The media decides which story to give prominence to. Could be the Burma story was a good opportunity to bury the Biden partition vote which should be a much bigger story.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:56 PM  

  • I don't think that was buried out of some plot, I would guess that they evaluated that since it was completely non-binding, it should slide down the headlines.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 9:15 PM  

  • Maybe....but if it was more than just a trial balloon it's going to slide back up.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:43 PM  

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