Ethnocentricity in tragedy

I was watching Fox News out of curiosity while at home in New Jersey for Christmas. After hearing so much complaining about it in Europe (where it's not easy to catch, so I must suspect that most complaining is done without primary source material), I thought it worth my while as a student of journalism to spend some time getting "fair and balanced" commentary straight from the source.

I picked it up around 2 or 3 pm on Dec 26th, when I first learned of the tsunami that smashed across Asia. Not 5 minutes passed before Fox commentators began speculating about American dead. Later in the day State Dept spokesmen began feeding some info, but the demand for American-specific info didn't subside even as the scale of the tragedy became more apparent, hour by hour, day by day.

I was initially surprised at the focus, and then ashamed at my naivete. One of the first things we learned about 'making' news is to make it local. I was tuned into Fox, so I don't know to what extent others were doing the same, but I suspect they weren't alone.

So surely, it is unfortunate that there were any Irish deaths from the Asian tsunami, and surely, it is equally inevitable that they would be covered in the Irish media. I one hope that they continue to be covered respectfully, given scale of the disaster.