How come Japan gets better media treatment?

[Dango]

In fact, if Japan's earthquake didn't happen, would you feel more sorry for the countries before?

To be honest, no. But that's only because I know fairly little about them. Besides the earthquake being larger, American media cared more about Japan's earthquakes because it's one of America's most trusted allies, which means a lot more political controversy, which leads to (and I hate saying this) more viewers and more income for everyone working in the news business. But still, the magnitude of the quake is a much stronger reason than the money, people here in America seem to be genuinely concerned (and as many who live in America can tell you, that's saying something).

Thank you Dango. But what about Australia? We had a large amount of drama earlier this year and we're your allies too, right? Did we get a story?

...No, because as far as the average American is concerned, all you guys do is run around wrestling crocodiles and screaming "Crikey!". As you might expect, some Americans can be rather well... stupid, but we're all pretty decent at heart!

 

[Accountfailed]

nnnnnope! not touchin' this one! *promptly opens door and leaves, slamming it shut.*

 

[Dark Knifer]

To be fair, japan's disaster was significantly more damaging then New Zealand but more attention could have been useful to other countries. I'm in Australia and I say we had pretty good coverage and charities for them but I don't know the story about what the other countries saw about them.

 

[Gruevy]

oh sure, no one makes a big fuss when someone says "Wow, I sincerely hope they're okay over there" and does nothing, but when it's "prayers 4 japan!!" all the atheists have a feeding frenzy.

but then, "hope in one hand" etc. etc.

 

[Elvoret]

Yeah, I'd say it scales to the amount of damage caused and/or lives lost.
Plus there's the economic impact...

It's sensationalism.

 

[Kae]

Well probably because Japan is supposed to be one of the most prepared countries when it comes to Earthquakes and Tsunamis and they were still devastated, the difference of scale comes to mind too and of course the high density of population in Japan was probably another factor.
That being said I totally get where you're coming from here in Baja California México in the Imperial Valley area we had an Earthquake around the same time as Chile and Haiti and nobody gave a shit about us, I mean did you even hear about that? so yeah in Mexico nobody came to help besides some people from California U.S.A. which were close and felt part of the impact too, so that makes two of us now.

 

[Mark-SJ]

There's a reason for that.

The Buddhists and Hindus don't drown "witches" or fly planes into buildings.

I wasn't aware the average Christian or Muslim regularly engaged in those activities.

Silly me.

 

[Saelune]

Cause Japan is more important to the U.S. by far. Only people making movies in big open plains really care about New Zealand here.

 

[Rayne870]

Well...the country makes and exports almost all of the cameras and other media equipment so what did you expect?

Terrible jokes aside yeah people should just generally be supporting anyone affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

 

[Illesdan]

Hm, that's kinda funny. You couldn't get away from the coverage of the New Zealand quake, but, in turn, the coverage of the Japanese quake seemed a bit muted. Its still there, but now its not so much about the actual earthquake, but now its because of the reactors.

I've always felt media generally only covers what appeals to the top heads at the time. They only put stories out there that are going to get them facetime and sell product. Media is just like any other business; its all about the sell.

 

[AsianMafiaSin]

Cause it's the largest Earthquake in recorded history and NUC-LEAR POWER PLANT HOLOCAUST OH SH!T
Also, maybe its post Atomic Bomb guilt and they're not white so it's to avoid seeming racist.
That, and NZ has neighbors to help out while Japan won't likely get much help from China, Russia, and both Koreas (check history for an explanation)

 

[Rayne870]

How's about instead of praying for any of them, we send money, supplies and experts to actualy help? just a thought...

Ok the thought of someone with a House Ordos emblem posting about genuinely being helpful and caring is just awesome. Though the practical approach does suit it.

 

[Zanaxal]

Mainstream massmedia is really poor anyways. Especially newspapers, who cares about what celebs do on the frontpage anyways, its just douches with cash.

Global news like Cnn and BBC cover all of these pretty well. rest of the mediums i don't really care about.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Because the west cares more about Japan then New Zealand (not my opinion just a hypothesis based on your evidence) and when a disaster happens there the news is more apt to cover it. I honestly think that in places like the US nobody knows much about New Zealand besides the fact that the Lord of the Rings was filmed there but everybody knows about Japan (because they make them fancy e-lec-tron-icas).

 

[Something Amyss]

Okay, before the angry brigade fight me down, let me explain.

Before what happened in Japan, there was an earthquake in New Zealand. when I checked around some websites. Some hardly even mentioned it. But when the earthquake hit in Japan, these same sites are i an uproar!

"PRAY FOR JAPAN!" "PRAY FOR JAPAN!" "PRAY FOR JAPAN!"

Granted, the nuclear meltdowns and tsunamis made it worse, but did we know an earthquake in Japan is happening that was going to cause that when New Zealand was in jeopardy? No. Then where are the PRAY FOR NEW ZEALAND articles?

EDIT: Or GIVE NEW ZEALAND MONEY AND HELP ARTICLES. There. No more snarky comments on how prayers are useless, please. As much is that seems to be a topic here, it isn't the issue I want to address.

I don't suppose the difference in magnitude might be a factor. 6.3 vs an 8.6? Yeah. MINOR difference. And while I'm not belittling the 75 reported dead according to Reuters, It's 75 to over 4,000. And while it caused a lot of destruction, it didn't cause critical problems with multiple nuclear plants.

In terms of triage, you're wondering why a broken wrist is being shown less attention than a guy with multiple gunshots to the chest.

But I'm pretty sure it's all been said (woo woo woo) before.

Wait, that was "It's all been done."

 

[PlasmaFrog]

Hm, that's kinda funny. You couldn't get away from the coverage of the New Zealand quake, but, in turn, the coverage of the Japanese quake seemed a bit muted. Its still there, but now its not so much about the actual earthquake, but now its because of the reactors.

I've always felt media generally only covers what appeals to the top heads at the time. They only put stories out there that are going to get them facetime and sell product. Media is just like any other business; its all about the sell.

Couldn't have explained it better than myself.

 

[Feralcentaur]

Is Atheism the "cool" thing now?

Some people seem to think so and act that way, kind of going by the logic of "if it's against most of societies standards, that makes it cool and rebellious!" although asking people to donate or give supplies instead of just praying is kind of common sense, if there's a problem usually just sitting around asking for some divine being to fix it doesn't do much. OP: It probably has something to do with either the fact that a lot of people on this website are quite fond of (some outright obsessed with) Japanese culture, while most people know very little about New Zealand, as for the general media it could have something to do with how the Japanese earthquake was far more major, affected a country with a higher population and it could also perhaps have to do with many people not even knowing New Zealand exists or some considering Japan to be more important as a country.

 

[DeeWiz]

Okay, before the angry brigade fight me down, let me explain.

Before what happened in Japan, there was an earthquake in New Zealand. when I checked around some websites. Some hardly even mentioned it. But when the earthquake hit in Japan, these same sites are i an uproar!

"PRAY FOR JAPAN!" "PRAY FOR JAPAN!" "PRAY FOR JAPAN!"

Granted, the nuclear meltdowns and tsunamis made it worse, but did we know an earthquake in Japan is happening that was going to cause that when New Zealand was in jeopardy? No. Then where are the PRAY FOR NEW ZEALAND articles?

EDIT: Or GIVE NEW ZEALAND MONEY AND HELP ARTICLES. There. No more snarky comments on how prayers are useless, please. As much is that seems to be a topic here, it isn't the issue I want to address.

Not to get banned, but you sir are a douche. It was the 5th largest earthwuake in history. I have had several aftershocks (i live in Japan)bigger than New Zealand. New Zealands earthquake was a 6.3, ous was a 9.0 thats 30x stronger.

Granted the media are blowing it WAT out of proportion, but a 6.3 here didn't even stop me from watching TV (seriously I was watched Chuck during 1 aftershock and I just stood up and put a hand on the projector to make sure it didn't fall over)