Lesson 03 · 4 min · 6 things to do
Far away is small
An earthquake kills fifty people. Whether you hear about it depends less on the fifty than on where they were standing.
- Earthquake A: distance200 milesEarthquake B: distance6,000 miles
Two earthquakes, the same size, the same deaths. One is 200 miles from your country, one 6,000. Which gets more coverage, and why?
- Not quite.Exotic is a word for a place the audience cannot picture, and a place they cannot picture is a place they scroll past.
- Yes.Three things travel badly: people, pictures and familiarity. Every one of them thins with the miles, and the fifty deaths are the same in both.
- Not quite.To a reader, yes. To a bulletin, a death with footage and a name people can pronounce is a different thing from a death with neither.
A 1980s study of US television counted how many deaths a disaster needed in each region to get the coverage of ONE death in Western Europe. For Asia, about how many?
Commit to one. Nothing is scored — this is here so you have a number in your head before you see the real one.
Western Europe1 deathsEastern Europe3 deathsLatin America9 deathsThe Middle East11 deathsAsia12 deathsDeaths needed for the coverage of one Western European death. About 12.Nobody at those networks wrote that rule down. It came out of where the bureaus were, which places the audience had been to, and whose footage arrived by evening.Twenty events of the same size, and where they happened. Change the distance from the newsroom.
18 of 20 · of twenty equal events that get reported
Same city18 of the twenty are reported. Almost all of them. A crew is there before lunch.
9 of 20 · of twenty equal events that get reported
Same country9 of the twenty are reported. About half. The bigger ones travel; the rest stay local.
4 of 20 · of twenty equal events that get reported
Neighbouring country4 of the twenty are reported. Four. A bureau or a stringer catches the largest.
1 of 20 · of twenty equal events that get reported
Other side of the world1 of the twenty are reported. One, and only because it was enormous or someone from home was there.
What is falling as the distance grows?
- Not quite.They were the same size in every frame. Importance did not move; presence did.
- Yes.Twenty identical events. The only thing that changed is how many of them had a witness whose job it was to be there.
- Not quite.Twenty in every frame. The world does not have fewer earthquakes far away; it has fewer cameras.
Move the control to see what changes.
Illustrative. Set how far away a place is, and how similar it is to the audience: language, holidays, trade, family.
Coverage of this event100Coverage of the same event at home100Illustrative. Next door · VeryNext door, very similar: about 100 units of coverage, where the same event at home gets 100.
Coverage of this event40Coverage of the same event at home100Illustrative. Next door · SomewhatNext door, somewhat similar: about 40 units of coverage, where the same event at home gets 100.
Coverage of this event10Coverage of the same event at home100Illustrative. Next door · Not at allNext door, not at all similar: about 10 units of coverage, where the same event at home gets 100.
Coverage of this event50Coverage of the same event at home100Illustrative. Same continent · VerySame continent, very similar: about 50 units of coverage, where the same event at home gets 100.
Coverage of this event20Coverage of the same event at home100Illustrative. Same continent · SomewhatSame continent, somewhat similar: about 20 units of coverage, where the same event at home gets 100.
Coverage of this event5Coverage of the same event at home100Illustrative. Same continent · Not at allSame continent, not at all similar: about 5 units of coverage, where the same event at home gets 100.
Coverage of this event30Coverage of the same event at home100Illustrative. Far away · VeryFar away, very similar: about 30 units of coverage, where the same event at home gets 100.
Coverage of this event12Coverage of the same event at home100Illustrative. Far away · SomewhatFar away, somewhat similar: about 12 units of coverage, where the same event at home gets 100.
Coverage of this event3Coverage of the same event at home100Illustrative. Far away · Not at allFar away, not at all similar: about 3 units of coverage, where the same event at home gets 100.
Which counts for more here: distance, or similarity?
- Yes.Far and very similar scores 30; next door and not at all scores 10. Real coverage looks like this: British papers report Australia more than Belgium.
- Not quite.They pull in different directions here, and that is the point: a place can be near and foreign, or far and familiar.
- Not quite.Slide next door with nothing shared and you get 10, against 30 for far and familiar. Miles matter less than whether the audience can picture the place.
Move both controls to see how they work against each other.
Which of these pull a distant event nearer, and which push it away?
Tourists from the audience's country were there
The story needs a translator
It is a holiday destination the audience knows
No footage, only a written statement
A large community from that country lives here
The names are hard to pronounce on air
Yes.Every puller is a way the audience can picture the place; every pusher is a cost to the desk. Neither has anything to do with how many people were hurt.Distance is measured in reporters, footage and familiarity, not miles. A place with none of the three is far away wherever it is.
- Deaths in the famine40,000 deathsDeaths in the shooting5 deaths
Illustrative sizes; the coverage runs the other way. A famine in one country gets a fraction of the coverage of a shooting with five deaths in another. What is the most likely reason?
- Yes.Each lesson so far is one gate, and the famine fails every one of them at once. The shooting passes every one. Neither newsroom decided which mattered more.
- Not quite.The number is what aid agencies count. Being counted is not the same as being filmed, and only one of those makes a bulletin.
- Not quite.Nobody thought that. Nobody thought anything; the shooting had a day, a place and a crew, and the famine had a statistic.
Lesson complete
Distance is measured in reporters, footage and familiarity, not in miles.
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