The most isolated country in the world
The Most Isolated Country in the World
No, it´s not Chile, trapped between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. Nor is it Tahiti, Papa New Guinea, or even Fiji. I´ve been in the US now for 3 weeks on an extended visit, and one of the things that has most caught my attention is how isolated the US is from the rest of the world. Physically and economically of course, the US is not isolated at all, as every country in the world sells its products here, or would like to.
It is with respect to its media environment that the US is the most isolated country in the world. It’s shocking really, that a country that thinks of itself as a paragon of democratic values provides its citizens with so little information, so little opportunity to compare the news they are offered with other points of view.
Here are some examples to back up my hypothesis.
Canada is a free democracy and near neighbor of the US, and speaks English, but you won´t find any Canadian stations on any US cable packages. Nor even in most border states will you find Canadian stations with any sort of repectable US viewership. That´s a disgrace. Canada is one of the best friends the US has got. How can a country just ignore its neighbor and and block out any commentary it might have on the state of affairs in North America? Ok, ok, I know that there isn´t really a censorship issue here, the practical answer to why there is no Canadian TV available in the US is probably just that “It doesn´t sell”. But the fact that even the CBC (Canada´s national TV station) is so widely unavailable completely dispells the myth of the “liberal media” which is so common in the US. The only foreign network widely available at all is the BBC, and that network can hardly be called a dissenting viewpoint.
Example #2 Dasani mineral water. A few years ago I worked on the launch commercial for Dasani in the UK. We shot a strange script based on the “The Day After Tomorrow” movie, where a big wave hits a city, but in this case it was a refreshing rather than devasting event. (No comment on the quality of the idea) At the time it was the largest special effects commercial ever shot in Chile, so I was quite anxious to get a copy of it for my reel. Unfortunately for me (and even more unfortunately for Coca-Cola) before the spot was out of post production a PR disaster hit. Dasani water was found not to be mineral water at all, but just purified tap water (i.e. water from the Thames river) The company still planned to launch the product even after that giant dose of bad publicity, until later it was found that the Dasani product contained more than the allowed legal limit of bromate, a chemical known to cause cancer of the kidneys. That killed Dasani in the UK. The ensuing scandal was compared to the New Coke fiasco as one of the worst marketing disasters in the history of the Coca-Cola company. As such, launch of the Dasani was cancelled in Europe. It´s launch was also postponed in Asia and South America. For legal reasons I wasn´t even allowed to obtain a copy of the commercial we shot for my reel. So, imagine my surprise when I came back to the US about a year later, opened my mother´s refrigerator, and voilá two bottles of Dasani. I just had to laugh, as actually it made perfect sense. The US was the only place that hadn´t heard of the PR scandal, or where it simply didn´t matter. Coca-cola USA had to finally admit that even though it carried the name Dasani mineral water, the US product was also just purified tap water, but the product is doing just fine, thank you.
Example #3 The Radio Dead Zone. Is there anything more depressing than driving accross the US and trying to find a decent radio station? Turn your radio on scan and have a listen: The 1970’s have apparently never ended, 90% of the music played on all stations is classic rock from those years. Foghat, REO Speedwagon, Kansas, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Rod Stewart, and Cheap Trick and others of that ilk still rule the airwaves. Come on, WTF? Actually listening to country music (if you can stomach the lyrics) is probably better if you want to hear something post 1980, as apparently those playlists get refreshed more often. True, if you are in a big city you´ll have a few other choices, but not nearly as many as you´d expect. Corporate control of radio stations has resulted in a homogenous, insipid programming that is one giant wasteland. What an insult to the last 25 years of great music recorded both in the US and around the world.
Example #4 The World Cup. Is there a clearer example proving that the US media “just doesn´t get” the rest of the world? While there was some coverage on English speaking cable channels, the only in depth coverage could be found on Univision, a Spanish speaking TV network.
Example #5 Newspaper coverage. The US newspaper industry’s view of the world can be actually summed very succintly: The Situation in the Middle East is Desperate. Almost all other coverage of the world falls into the travel section. And after the whole corporate newspaper business rolled over and did backflips for the Bush adminstration´s run up to the Iraq war, do they have any credibilty left at all? The only thing US newspapers are good for these days is the weather, sports, and soduko.
Example #6 CNN (Corporate Nonsense Network) What the hell happened to CNN? When it started out it was the most international network in the US. But while it still promises to “bring you the world” the truth is it brings a santized US centric version of the world that is filled with bias. Interestingly, criticisms of the network along these lines have focussed primarily on the US version of the network, and not CNN International. My guess is that once Ted Turner sold out to Time Warner, the basic editorial position of the network changed radically towards a conservative corporate policy.
Will things change in the US media? Not many positive signs are apparent. Alternative media and the internet offer some hope. But overall it looks as if the US will continue to block out the views of the rest of the world.
