American media shelters citizens

Mr. Nield (Letters, Sept. 4, 2001) bemoans the sensationalization of news and the relegation of important occurrences into insignificant recesses of news Web-sites. While I have not been in the U.S. long enough to comment about the putative greatness of newscasters like Mr. Cronkite, I do know that I find it extremely difficult to classify the stuff peddled by the cable channels as news. Even the so-called pillars of TV news, the evening network TV newscasts, have no more than five minutes, at the outside, of news-worthy items.

When I was first exposed to U.S. TV newscasts, I was amazed at the minimal (non-existent?) coverage of international news, compared to, say, that by the BBC. That lamentable trend has only accelerated in recent times. For example, the U.S. has 200,000 troops stationed around the globe in places like South Korea, Japan, the former Yugoslavia, and various NATO bases; yet anybody reliant only on TV news in the U.S. would be hard pressed to explain why this is in the United States’ geo-political interests. Introspection is good; a Narcissus-like self-fascination, on the other hand, as preached by the TV newscasts, can only lead to a complete ignorance of the world outside.

Sridhar Kompella

Graduate Student, Schools of Engineering

Americans need to unite in time of need

Past makes nation target for terror

Games should continue despite attack

America will rebound after tragedy

Nation must pray for peace, calm

Country must continue normal lives

Celebration in America seems ironic

Teachers should speak with caution

Attacks do not deserve cheers

Campus needs to display more flags

American media shelters citizens

Americans must carry on, live lives

Cancellations should follow tragedy

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