A distant election

Today there was a stampede at a concert in Indonesia, where 10 people died. After 30 years the Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea is finally brought to justice for crimes where millions of people died. More than 10,000 people fled from Sudan (السودان ) to Chad (تشاد‎) after attacks in Darfur (دار فور‎). We have cut down 20% of the Amazon jungle during the last 40 years.

And what do we get to read about on the front pages of our newspapers? We get to read who has won 3 out of 50 primary elections in a country, where we do not have the right to vote. Why would I care what is going on in primary elections in a country thousands of miles away? Tell me who won after the final election. That is enough for me. If I cannot affect the outcome of something that has no impact on me, I do not want media to spend space on it. There are other important matters in the world.

And yet, that seems to be something that Le Monde, Corriere della Sera, 日本経済新聞, Politiken, de Volkskrant and many other have not understood. All of them allocate more space to news about the American elections than one can reasonably justify.