The media’s geographic bias strikes again
A lone shooter in New York leads to nonstop coverage, while other shootings are ignored.
The big news networks like to claim that they cover the entire country. That no matter where you live in the United States, they’re operating with you in mind. Sure, they might be broadcasting from New York City, but really they’re focused just as much on you as they are on their metropolis.
Then comes a day like Monday.
A horrible shooting in New York City did not just lead the big cable news networks in prime time; it overtook much or all of them. A lone gunman who killed four people and then himself was, to these networks, the country’s top story.
The same cannot be said for Reno, Nevada, where a man killed three people outside the largest casino that same day. Nor the gas station in Detroit where two people were killed. Nor the site not far from my home in Atlanta, where gunfire left one person dead. Nor the many other incidents that occur daily across the country. Sure, some do get national coverage. But on Monday, the networks reminded America that they don’t see or treat the entire country equally.
There are likely financial reasons. New York City is home to more than 8 million people, so a lot of eyeballs might tune in for that coverage. And an incident like this can temporarily raise fears of a terrorist attack. But even after the authorities made clear that the awful situation was over and the shooter was dead, the networks continued their intense coverage.
If this occurred in a vacuum, it wouldn’t matter much. But New York-centric thinking is already a problem in the legacy media. A few years ago, The New Republic noted that this problem leads news powerhouses to miss all kinds of stories and keeps them out of touch with the reality of many Americans. “As long as news organizations are centered on the East Coast, both physically and mentally, the country’s political discourse will suffer for it,” Matt Ford wrote.
Earlier this year James Carville, a stalwart figure in the Democratic Party, accused the Democrats of ignoring rural voters, helping Donald Trump win the presidency again. There's every reason to believe the news they consume contributed to this problem. (Though, to be fair, Fox News stayed on the shooting story Monday along with MSNBC, and CNN, throughout the 8 p.m. ET hour.)
Geographic bias in the news is nothing new. For decades, researchers have written about it, lamenting how many stories are ignored. In an effort to address this, big news agencies have at times made efforts to cover more stories elsewhere. But even those efforts often show how little time news powerhouses spend getting to know these communities.
Though this affects numerous cities across the country, the difference is particularly stark for rural areas. In surveys, Americans have said the media does an especially poor job of accurately representing people in these areas, and 60% of rural Americans said they feel the media respects them only a little or not at all.
According to a 2020 study from the Aspen Institute, “Many interviewees expressed concern that quick-turnaround stories from national outlets ignored the diversity and nuance of rural America.” It quoted the communications director of a rural nongovernmental organization as saying that often when national reporters call, “They have a particular story in mind and they have certain people that they want to talk to, like out-of-work coal miners, people who voted for Trump and have changed their mind.” The same kinds of requests keep repeating “no matter how many times we try to redirect them,” he said.
In 2022, a study from Oxford and the Reuters Institute looked at communities that feel ignored by national news across several countries. Among them were rural Americans. “If you look at the national news, the only time you hear about rural issues is if a tornado went through a trailer park, or if this whole section flooded,” one participant said. “I mean, it’s only when you have a natural disaster component that I think you get rural people in.”
This matters. Our nation desperately needs trustworthy sources of truth that everyone can count on. That means not only ending the constant stream of false and biased reporting—the kinds of things I cover on They Stand Corrected.
It also means having national news agencies that genuinely work to cover the whole country—and to always keep a national perspective in mind.
Josh Levs is host of They Stand Corrected, the podcast and newsletter fact-checking the media. Find him at joshlevs.com.
Thanks for asking me to do a column about this, The Contrarian. It's an opportunity to discuss another part of what's wrong with the legacy media! See lots of fact checks and more at theystandcorrected.substack.com.
Look! Many of us have been writing forever about this and all the other disinformation from the Network TV group! When Reagan took office, things began to change as the Republicans began their lead-in to their final Heritage Manifesto! Yet, to this day, the Democratic Party remains incapable of addressing this despite the Coup! Had the democrats been ready after 8 years of Bush, testing some of the ground for today's regime, we would not be in the position we find ourselves.
Trump uses his power to force the networks even further to the Right, and his mafia style aside, he is the consummate hustler, and was always able to lie his way to get what he wanted. But there are legal ways to address the disinformation if you hold the office, but the Democrats never cared enough to use them! Now we must make them do so by demanding replacements for those remaining in charge of the Senate and House!
Democrats could be using the Courts to force the networks to start fact-checking and spread out real news. They, like Trump, could sue these corporations, and in States where Democrats are in control, the AG's could sue them directly! It is time to change and become as aggressive as the Republicans, or they will cement this authoritarian system into our Nation!