Why doesn’t the News show a map when they speak of another country or even another state?

January 7th, 2009

Technology news
wawawebis asked:


Years ago, as a kid, I learned geography while watching the world news and they would use a red arrow to point to the map of the world to show where some event was taking place. Does anyone know why this practice stopped, and couldn’t it be re-instituted simply with all the technology today? Do you agree that news stories ought to include a visual that shows where someplace is?

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5 Responses to “Why doesn’t the News show a map when they speak of another country or even another state?”

  1. Jesus Says:

    pppf Americans are stupid

  2. Limestoner62 Says:

    Very good idea, they do that a lot on Canadian news today, especially the public channel CBC. To inform is not to assume everyone is up to snuff on their geography (and some of us can stand to brush up)

  3. Joseph, II Says:

    I think that’s a WONDER FULL idea. The problem IS, half the kids in High School can’t find their OWN State on a map nowadays- what GOOD is it going to be to show them one of Iran, or Myanmar, or wherever??! The News is for people with an Interest in what’s going “on in the World…” And only TOO many people don’t watch it- because they haven’t got a CLUE… :(

  4. Jon S Says:

    Why don’t you buy an atlas and when you here some place you are not sure about you can look it up.

  5. Rubber Cranium Says:

    Sometimes they do depending on the situation. Iraq coverage used to have a lot of it. I actually asked a map question here a few days ago. “Why don’t 60% of US citizens know where Iraq is on a map?” or something like that. My question was mostly met with striking derision and ignorance openly defended by people who don’t care.

    It’s really embarrassing that people who claim to care about the world don’t even know where they are in it.

    Here’s a CNN link to a story about last year’s study.

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