Is Your News Source Covering This?

A series of coordinated explosions have hit trains in Mumbai, India, during the evening rush hour. Early estimates are more than a hundred dead, hundreds more injured. Although no one has taken responsibility, initial speculation seems to lean toward Kashmiri militants.

First and most important: Our thoughts and prayers must be with the people affected--those on the trains, their loved ones, and all the people of Mumbai. Take a moment to offer whatever it is in your belief system to offer, whether a prayer to a higher power, or a simple moment of your attention and care.

As time passes and more is learned, I will be interested to see how U.S. news outlets cover this story. Below the fold or late in the newscast because despite the human cost, how many Americans even know (or care) what country Mumbai is in? (I suppose if they say "Bombay" people will get it.) Or look for an al-Qaeda connection (however tenuous it may turn out to be) and shout to the rooftops that Osama is behind it? How many will point out where Kashmir is, much less what their beef is?

I've become more than a bit cynical about news media. As with so many industries, I can't fault the individuals (with certain exceptions) doing the gathering and reporting. It's the entire system in which the news is supported by advertising dollars, which in turn depend on the maximum number of people watching/reading, which in its turn is a product of the undeniable fact that more people will choose to read or watch news that is simple, dramatic, titillating, and local than news that is complex, analytical, and global.

If an event happens and nobody covers it, is it news?

I do believe that these horrifying events in Mumbai will get some attention in this country; I just wonder if that attention will linger beyond a day or two, and in what form.

Today at least, let us feel for these far-off people who have had their lives literally blown apart, and remember them.