In less than 12 hours, an 8.0 storm will crash over the Philippines and destroy homes, maybe even take lives. Yet this article was in a small corner of the WP site. I would not have seen it if I hadn't been looking past front page news.
The journalist set the tone immediately with this picture:
That isn't all that's great about this article. The journalists include more photos, the next of what the typhoon looks like pulled out to a picture of Earth (it's still huge and scary), others of the rainfall expected and the severity of wind rushing through the area. They also break down what the storm will do to the environment and the people in three short statements. It's clear, concise, and terrifying.
My first thought was this: why isn't this front page news? And then I thought, why should it be?
Yes, this is scary, and yes, this is going to literally effect millions of people. Those are pretty good stipulations when it comes to reporting the news. Indeed, it made more sense to me than the news about Twitter going public and how well the stocks were selling. I understand The Wall Street Journal posting that information on the front page, but the New York Times tends focus less on financial information.
Is this relevant to American citizens, even when it happens so far away? Bad weather happens all the time, right? According to the article, “On average, the western Pacific gets 27 named storms.” But, this storm has also joined the ranks of the top 20 worst storms in all of history.
So why is this buried in the back of the WP news? There isn’t anything I, or anyone else, can do to get rid of the storm. We can’t control the weather. But what about the aftermath? Maybe this needs to be front page news not only so the people of America can see what’s about to occur, but to prepare to help when it’s over.
We’ve seen the effect Snowden had by allowing news sources like Washington Post and The Guardian publish information the Obama Administration has been hiding from its citizens. There was enough outrage for the government to at least say they would like to mend their spying ways. If this story became front page news, would enough people rise up and desire to send aid to a country that will surely need it (homes will be destroyed, as will the ecology in the area)?
Would being on the front page make any difference to President Obama, PM David Cameron, or any other country who has the resources to send help to the Phillipines?
Maybe that's the real question.
How much power should a newspaper have over the leaders of our countries? I want to know if we have the power to force our leaders to involve themselves in something other than war crimes.
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