A friend from college in Hong Kong asked me why I never ask about her local news.

We were catching up over video chat last week and she pointed out that every major story from her city I mentioned came from a big international outlet, never a local paper. She said, 'You only get the version that makes it past the gatekeepers.' It made me wonder what specific events or perspectives from her neighborhood I've completely missed because they were buried or blocked from wider view.

2 comments

2 Comments

cole_davis471mo ago

Wow, that's a really sharp point she made. It's kind of scary to think the whole story never gets out. Makes you question everything you read from those big places. What kind of local stuff does she say gets left out?

taylor821mo ago

You ever notice how a big news story will talk about a new law or a protest, but they never show the actual people it hits hardest? Like, they'll quote a politician in a suit but not the small business owner down the street who has to close because of it. The local stuff that gets left out is all the quiet fallout, the domino effect that changes a whole neighborhood. It's the details that make you understand why people are really angry or scared, not just the fact that they are. Without that, you're just getting the skeleton of the story with none of the flesh and blood.