Global news stories

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  • Global news stories

    I'm just starting to put together the componants of a new idea and realised i might be making some incorrect assumptions about one componant.

    I'm assuming storys like the dissapearance of flight MH 370 have featured prominantly across the world for the last month? It sure has on the local news.

    Can I get a sound off as to the most random locale that you have seen a global news story... ie backpacking in Timbucktoo saw the televising fall of the berlin wall... Peace corps in the Amazon and watched 9/11?

    I guess in short I'm trying to find out what is a global news story and what is global these days

    Thanks SL
    I heard the starting gun


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  • #2
    Re: Global news stories

    Does it matter if a news story actually did play in Timbuktu? Or rather, is the question whether a reader of your script will be OK if it says, about a certain news story: "It even played in Timbuktu!"?

    Or conversely (sorta), are you trying to depict a place in which, for example, even the missing plane is not a news story? And you're wondering if that would be credible to a reader?

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    • #3
      Re: Global news stories

      I'm trying to work out a global news story with long legs i.e. it'll hang around for a while and enthrall as many cultures as possible.
      I heard the starting gun


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      • #4
        Re: Global news stories

        If you have a question about what is global news, check out a few websites and compare to see what stories pop up across all of them. It's quick, easy research.

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        • #5
          Re: Global news stories

          Originally posted by Southern_land View Post
          I'm trying to work out a global news story with long legs i.e. it'll hang around for a while and enthrall as many cultures as possible.
          Human tragedy is what enthralls people around the world. It doesn't necessarily have to be based on a lot of deaths either, like the sinking of the ferry in South Korea, or the cruise ship in Italy, or a Bangladesh factory fire that killed 112 workers because the management ignored safety standards-- it's about innocent people dying.

          A tragedy or death of one, or a few is enough to excite the world's attention, for example-- JFK Jr., Mandela, assassination of Osama bin Laden. Sometimes it has to do with what a single person has contributed to the rise or fall of societies.

          It's what people identify with that generates a global response.
          FA4
          "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

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          • #6
            Re: Global news stories

            Different types of stories become global news for different reasons. Some because they have geopolitical relevance, a contemporary example being the contest for political control in Ukraine. Some stories are those that finalact4 alluded to, human tragedy or catastrophe in the form of floods, typhoons, earthquakes, sinking boats, forest fires and so forth. Then there are the smaller human interest stories that strike a universal humanitarian note amongst people everywhere, such as the infant girl in China who was rescued after being trapped for hours in a narrow gap between two buildings, or miners rescued from a collapsed coal mine.

            I guess you need to choose the type of event and circumstances that match your story and be prepared to do a little bit of research so you can find an appropriate level of authenticity, e.g. spell Timbuktu correctly or know what TV channels might be available in a remote area etc.
            "Friends make the worst enemies." Frank Underwood

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            • #7
              Re: Global news stories

              Sounds like you may need a news story that unfolds in parts rather than a single event...

              A scandal of some sort where more and more is revealed over time (Watergate, OJ Simpson, Princess Di death, etc)

              A human drama in real-time...like miners trapped a thousand feet below the surface...will they survive until help arrives? Did one of the miners sabotage the mine?

              Perhaps you need to find some real drama that in some way will mirror the emotional drama of your characters? Barrack and Michelle's 'separation', Clinton's infidelity, the joy of William and Kate's marriage, the 'madness' of Czar Putin, etc. These can play out most anywhere you like as these people make state visits and charity visits at a variety of random places.

              Global these days can be anything from Lindsey Lohan to launching a new i-phone. Find something with some relevance to your obscure location.

              "The Gods Must Be Crazy" involves a Coca-Cola bottle found in the African bush if I remember correctly. "Cast Away" has those global FedEx packages washing up on a deserted island. I'm not sure what you are seeking, so these are just some angles from which to think off of.

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              • #8
                Re: Global news stories

                RogerOThornhill mentions a category I'd overlooked - scandal/crime/expose. Stories in this group which revolved around sensationalism also attract international coverage.
                "Friends make the worst enemies." Frank Underwood

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                • #9
                  Re: Global news stories

                  I've been living in Northern Iraqi Kurdistan for the past 8 years, and I can say that the Kurdish, Turkish, Arab, and Persian (BBC Farsi) tv stations do a pretty decent job of covering everything. People in this part of the world take pride in knowing what's going on in other parts of the world.

                  When I'm at home I'm usually chained to my computer, so I don't always get a chance to watch tv. My local friends will usually call me and tell me when some major event has gone on back in the States, or my wife will email me from work that she read about it on BBC Farsi. The first time I heard about the Boston Marathon Bombing and the Sandy Hook Shooting was when I started to receive phone calls from friends here asking me if everyone I knew over there was safe (despite the fact that most of my friends and family are in the West Coast).

                  One of the most popular vehicles in the region is the Land Cruiser, and the local name for it is "Monica", after Monica Lewinsky. So while that whole thing was going down in 1998 in the US, the Kurds were under a double embargo and conducting small skirmishes with the Iraqi military, yet they still tuned in to their tv sets to watch the news about the latest developments in our president's creative uses of a cigar.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Global news stories

                    Originally posted by Isah Abedini View Post
                    I've been living in Northern Iraqi Kurdistan for the past 8 years, and I can say that the Kurdish, Turkish, Arab, and Persian (BBC Farsi) tv stations do a pretty decent job of covering everything. People in this part of the world take pride in knowing what's going on in other parts of the world.

                    When I'm at home I'm usually chained to my computer, so I don't always get a chance to watch tv. My local friends will usually call me and tell me when some major event has gone on back in the States, or my wife will email me from work that she read about it on BBC Farsi. The first time I heard about the Boston Marathon Bombing and the Sandy Hook Shooting was when I started to receive phone calls from friends here asking me if everyone I knew over there was safe (despite the fact that most of my friends and family are in the West Coast).

                    One of the most popular vehicles in the region is the Land Cruiser, and the local name for it is "Monica", after Monica Lewinsky. So while that whole thing was going down in 1998 in the US, the Kurds were under a double embargo and conducting small skirmishes with the Iraqi military, yet they still tuned in to their tv sets to watch the news about the latest developments in our president's creative uses of a cigar.
                    Thanks that's exactly what I wanted
                    I heard the starting gun


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