Why is the Boston bombing being preferentially reported over the Iraq bombings?

Because a fire in your backyard is more interesting than one two blocks down the road.

Because what your life is worth depends on where you live. :-{

@whitenoise The OP said:

here on the other side of the world

…indicating he or she is not in the US.

@whitenoise Hence my mention of Boston being on the other side of the world. It isn’t my backyard, its on another continent.

Why, a month after Elizabeth Smart was abducted, did the media overlook the kidnapping of a 7-year-old girl that freed herself by chewing through her restraints?

Short answer: The media sucks.

Uh…..Do you know where you live? Lol.

Because bombs in Iraq are an expected occurrence.

Because the major news sources you are viewing are all USCentric.

Broaden your horizons and check out alternate news sources of the world.

Can people read?!

THE OP DOES NOT LIVE IN THE US!

@FireMadeFlesh I’m surprised that the Boston Marathon bombing is making bigger news there. Is it normally the case that US news dominates the media where you are?

As far as I know, the Iraq bombings were not during a major event that draws people from many places, not just the US, although it is primarily a US event. However, runners all over the world know about the historic Boston Marathon. Funny, I felt like locally here in FL they have not been covering the Boston event as much as I would guess they would.

Don’t get me wring, I feel the Iraq bombings are important, and my news, being in the US, is very US centric of course. If you are in a “western” country I would guess your media and population better identifies with the people in the US than the Middle East, so the media reports that more. Not that I agree with it, but it might be an explanation.

Bombs in Iraq are sort of expected, whilst a bomb in the US is less so.

As others above have said, how often do bombs go off in Iraq? How often do they go off in the US? There is your answer as to why one is getting more coverage than the other.

I do think its pretty fucked how everyone is up in arms over this like “how could anyone ever do such a thing!?!” and yea its bad but this is almost a daily occurrence in many parts of the world and no one seems to care then. It’s only when it effects your bubble of influence that people start caring.

@livelaughlove21

THE POINT STILL STANDS!!!

The major news sources are extremely USCentric regardless of where you live. What happens in or to the US matters to the rest of the world if for no other reason than to gloat. Not that I am saying that is what is happening with the Boston bombing stories.

Because the US is guilty of geocentrism.

Because worldwide media is dominated by the U.S.

Because, sadly bombings are an everyday occurrence in Iraq, but the US not so much.

@marinelife Egocentrism, you mean? :)

@livelaughlove21 No, geocentrism. It means that the United States regards itself as the center of the universe.

@marinelife No, it means that the earth is the center of the universe.

I figure the foreign coverage is because the Boston Marathon is a global event. It was won by an Ethiopian man and a Kenyan woman. There are participants from all over the world.

@livelaughlove21 Yes, that’s the literal definition, but not how I was using it.

Well, given that the situation is much closer geographically, and I am guessing you are referring to U.S. news coverage it makes sense that those stories end up being covered in greater depth. It does not make the horrors of Iraq of any less consequence though. I watched French news last night, and they gave the Boston story five minutes, and then they moved onto things more germane to the typical French citizen viewer. I think the focus, wherever you are, often veers towards the people of that nation.

Did writing in all caps (above) help increase the validity of my argument?

@rojo My aim in using caps an bold wasn’t to increase the validity of my argument, it was to hopefully bring people’s attention to it as they scroll right past older responses without bothering to read them. Anyways, it wasn’t an argument at all; it was a fact.

Over here in england town there’s still blanket coverage across all media outlets, I guess they still believe in our “special relationship” with the yanks.

War bombing is expected. Street bombings during a marathon race are not.

@FireMadeFlesh
I could’ve read your question a bit better, then. Sorry.

The essence still stands, though, we identify a lot more with Americans than with people in Afghanistan. That is… If the we is from what we commonly refer to as ‘the west’.

The world is not fair.

It can only be because we have limited interest in the people of Iraq, which then makes you wonder why we invaded.

@flutherother I can tell you in America most of the support to go into Iraq was because Americans became convinced Sadam would attack us if we did not do something. Oh, and a lot of Americans thought going into Iraq was retaliation for 9/11. Not all Americans were that ignorant, but enough. A side story was helping the Iraqis free themselves from this horrible genocidal leader. The numbers of Iraqis who lost there lives and who were injured during the war was rarely mentioned in the US.

Public opinion was manipulated in the UK and the US to support the invasion. The reasons we were given were bogus. We were told Iraq was a threat when it wasn’t. Now the invasion is justified retrospectively as a kindly action to free Iraqis from a dictator. This also seems bogus to me.

There was probably more press in the Boston at the time than there was at the sight of the Iraq bombings. When visual media is the primary source often the better pictures lead.

@WestRiverrat Good point.

Probably for the same reason reporters in Iraq or any other country preferentially report on bombings in their own countries.

For anyone outside of Iraq terrorist bombings are no longer new. So far this year I think there have been 10 terrorist attacks in Iraq. There were 25 or so last year. In 2011 the week after the last US soldiers withdrew from Iraq there were 11 bombings in one day. In 2007 there were 442 suicide bombings. I’m afraid it gets to a point where it is no longer news.

Great question! A single drone attack kills many more people. I suspect the majority of those killed in a drone attack were innocent of any crimes or murder of other people.

I am an American that does not believe in “American exceptional-ism”. Our problem is that we have a leadership problem that can only see violence as a way to solve problems. We kill more innocent people than all of the roadside bombs and suicide murders combined. I find it ironic that the Boston bombing get much more play than killing a hundred people in a wedding party in Iraq.

@marinelife – In this case I have to disagree. Iraq is closer to Europe than the United States is. Most European media networks are not seen as being guilty of “geocentrism”. In Germany we receive news from practically every country in the world. Still, Boston has been number one news.

On German television a psychologist was asked this very question. Why are German viewers following the story in Boston so closely? Because what happened is seen as a threat to the very heart of modern Western civilization. The World Trade Center towers were seen as the towers of all of us. Iraq is mainly seen is seen as a struggle between Muslims. The same applies to Syria, Afghanistan etc. Of course we are following this too. But in Germany we have plenty of marathons and other mass sports events too. We can relate to this. It could happen anywhere including where we live. Marathons are very common all across the United States.

Thank you all for your answers. Some very good points have been raised.

@glacial I wouldn’t say that US news dominates here (Australia), but major events there do tend to receive more coverage than similar events in other countries. However news from the UK and China do receive close to the same level of coverage. I can only assume it is related to the countries that we have the closest economic ties with.