I have been reading about attention a bit recently and is an interesting paragraph in Wikipedia’s entry
A more substantial problem is presented by the human propensity to focus on emergency situations to the exclusion of background phenomena which may be more significant. This can be seen in what is considered news where a spectacular auto accident easily outweighs a report on particulate pollution by diesel engines although only a few may have died in the accident while thousands may suffer and die due to diesel pollution.
Is this why there is practically no media attention on the unfolding tragedy in horn of Africa?
I have found one newspaper article and an interview with Tim Costello in the Australian online press.
The other references come from aid agencies:
We know about it, the projections are that it will be bigger than 1984’s crisis and yet the media seems to wait until it is an emergency and thousands die before it gets picked up…
In an effort to build awareness, I’m trying an experiment with an attention getting tag in hornography (ie. Horn of Africa). If you’re writing about/linking to/mentioning it, maybe we can get enough people using the tag to generate some more general, public awareness of the issue?
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