When the US media do report on other parts of the globe --particularly developing countries -- they tend to concentrate on certain kinds of events:

• events that center on conflict, such as military coups, civil wars, or genocide
• major catastrophes, such as tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, famine, and disease epidemics

While this is important information for US audiences to have, the fact that these are the only types of events we hear about can lead to a distorted impression of other countries. Readers may be left with the feeling that the situation in these countries is beyond hope.

We may lack context for understanding these events

Since there is generally little ongoing coverage of the social, cultural, economic, political, or environmental issues that are important to the smaller, poorer countries of the world, it can be difficult for American audiences to understand what is going on when they hear about devastatating events.

And as the US media cover conflicts and catastrophes in other countries, they often focus only on the most recent event, without providing very much background information, such as any underlying causes of such conflicts, epidemics, and disasters.

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