THE WORST PLACE ON (THE NEWS MEDIA'S) EARTH...
...is sharing a cover with a pseudo-celebrity.

I used to get upset at people who would spend hours going on about OJ Simpson or Monica Lewinsky or other insufferable trivialities that barely merited seconds of our attention (today's equivalent would be Kobe Bryant; yesterday's would be Laci Petersen) while two-year olds were having their hands amputated in Sierra Leone or religious riots were causing havoc in India. If you're going to sweat the small stuff, at least sweat the small stuff that might affect you or people you know.

I don't object to people worrying about comparatively small stuff when it affects their daily life. I get angry when I read about what's going on in the DR Congo but I still motivate my kids to play better soccer. I still go to the tennis courts and try to win every match. I still watch Seinfeld. I don't let my knowledge and concern paralyze me.

But I also try to keep things in perspective. I don't bask in willful, conscious ignorance, which probably is the worst kind. My mother may not follow world affairs as closely as I do, but when she does learn about something in the newspaper or television, she is interested. Sometimes she'll ask me questions about it if it's something in Africa. She may not be consumed by that issue, but she's paying attention. Her humanity doesn't shut down when she sees starving kid. I don't begrudge people who don't know everything about what's going on in the greater world: I do begrudge those (adults anyway) who don't want to know.

That said, how people prioritize the news has a lot to do with how the news is reported and presented. I was reminded of this when I saw in the library last week's issue of the Canadian magazine MacLean's. It is Canada's primary newsweekly, their equivalent to TIME (but less pompous). Perhaps it's closer to Newsweek, because both magazines are increasingly fluffy and focused in on "infotainment." An example:

MacLean's main cover story was an article entitled "RED HOT AND COOL" whose caption read "Canada's under-30s know what they want, and have the spirit and the smarts to make it happen."

Just above it was a teaser for a report from Liberia penned by Alexandre Trudeau, son of the late Prime Minister Pierre Elliot. Trudeau's piece is entitled "'The worst place on Earth'" detailing the hell-hole that is the West African state.

Surely a report from the 'worst place on Earth' merits a slightly higher profile than an article entitled "Red Hot and Cool" in a publication that bills itself Canada's Premier NEWSmagazine.

Sons of ex-heads of government seem to be MacLean's forte. The most recent cover story is an article about Ben Mulroney, son of former Prime Minister Brian. Mulroney fils is apparently one of the judges in Canadian Idol, the true north strong and insecure's version of the American version of the British show. This important cover story took precedence over the second part of Alexandre Trudeau's series on 'the worst place on Earth.'

Unfortunately, the North American media, especially non-newspaper, makes it increasingly difficult to be informed. It's very hard to know what's going, at least about stuff that actually matters. You have to go out of your way to find stuff that is important. Well-intentioned people with busy lives, kids, careers or all three may not have time to do the digging. So they make their decisions and develop their opinions based on incomplete or partial information. I've always said the media is most influential not in how they report stories, but in which stories they choose to report. I shudder to think how little I'd know about what's going on in the world I'd be if I didn't have access to the Internet.