Early human communities didn't have writing, and the behavior of local leaders was an important and practical topic of everyday talk. Fast-forward to the 20th century. Weekly local newspapers adapted this oral tradition to print, in small towns even as national TV arrived on the scene. It didn't take long for electronic media to pick up on our passion for leader-talk.
It's much cheaper to create one story of interest to 300 million people, than to create a million stories each written for only 300. No surprise then that the focus on local and non-politcal issues is eclipsed (especially during a quarter of every 4 year US national election cycle) by a focus on news about only one of the 300 million jobs that hold the nation together.
Like the world series, the national election is a shared cultural event. However in places struggling to counterbalance discontent (like Kenya most recently), such a national focus can have its downside.
Let's recap. Thanks to their layered structure, communities are immersed in unfolding stories about: (i) public health, (ii) the nature of interactions between individuals, (iii) the state of families, (iv) citizenship (including leadership) in corporate as well as governmental offices, (v) the evolution of culture (sports too) in its many forms, and (vi) reports on systematic study of the world we live in. Each of these stories has neighborhood, village, county, provincial, national and global takes.
If each of these 6 topics were covered on 5 levels (lumping national and global together), this would give each local venue 30 stories to capture audience with per week. For a nation of 300 million people this means national stories in 6 topic areas, a couple of hundred state-level stories on those topics , maybe 6000 county-level stories, more than 100,000 village-level stories, and over 2 million neighborhood stories i.e. say in total 2.6 million stories in these 6 topic areas per week: Lots of stuff to write that is of interest somewhere.
Those fewer national and global stories carry the weight of more interested listeners. With 5 levels to cover (is that too many?) then national stories deserve 20% of total production effort and coverage, with national politics a sixth of that if one allocates time also to national matters of public health, relationships, family, culture, and science. Compare this <4% of time warranted on citizenship at the federal level to what big media venues spend on only the alpha-wolf leadership part of that story e.g. on tales about the job of US president.
Thus time spent pursuing old-style leadership-talk at the national level decreases coverage for the other matters listed above. NBC's "Meet-The-Press" session with pundits, on the day after the Indian Ocean tsunami, stuck out like a sore thumb in this way. It keeps our eyes off the ball, even if we ignore the local stories that individual communities miss out on and the reporters not employed as a result.
When it comes to news, we get what we ask for. If there are better ways, no need to wait for big media. Internet and wireless communications open many new doors for making our information environment multiscale-smart. What can you and I do to help?
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Perhaps we, as individuals, can help by being more observant of the world around us and making note of news-worthy situations we see unfold to the people around us. By blogging about them and taking the time to read/share the blogs of others around us, we take advantage of free technology and hopefully gain perspective in the process, not to mention fill the void that mass-media leaves. For instance, if I were to write on the recent experiences of my dad with General Motors in a reasonably objective way, it might help another think about global economics, outsourcing, or unions, for example, in a more informed way. Since our decisions are largely based on our experiences, why not try to share those experiences to benefit one another?
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