Martin Belam: Terrorist attacks outside of Western Europe aren’t covered as thoroughly because it’s harder to get people to care about those stories

You’ll often see people complain that terrorist attacks outside of Western Europe aren’t covered well enough, but Martin Belam writes there’s a reason for that: Data shows that it’s hard to get people to read those stories. It’s also easier and less expensive for reporters based in Western Europe to get to cities such as Brussels or Paris than Lahore. Belam writes: “It’s harder to get mainstream reader empathy and interest in terrorism attacks that occur further from our shores. Many, many of our readers will have visited Brussels or Paris. Far fewer will have ever ventured to Pakistan.”

+ Earlier: You’ll often hear people say “you won’t read about this in the news” about stories such as Lahore, but the stories are often being covered and most people just aren’t reading them

The post Martin Belam: Terrorist attacks outside of Western Europe aren’t covered as thoroughly because it’s harder to get people to care about those stories appeared first on American Press Institute.

from American Press Institute http://ift.tt/1MyjPtA