Why are my local news sources so short sighted?

When I watch the news these days, or look it up online, the major stories are usually about celebrities, some unidentifiable animal washed up on a beach that might just be a Yeti, or the latest slander between politicians.

Meanwhile the whole Arab world is in upheaval, and a nuclear reactor in Japan has given dozens of workers health problems, and some days ago nearly had a meltdown. I have no idea of any developments in Iraq or Afghanistan in the past few weeks, and it was a few days before I found out that Israel had started shelling Gaza again.

I have now ditched my local news sources, and have started looking at Reuters UK for decent news.

So my question is this: Why are my local sources so short sighted, and so uninterested in world affairs? Do they really think local trivialities are more important than global crises?