Rahul Sharma's AP Govt Blog 2.2

A health care bill that failed to pass, a primary election in Alabama, and a spat between the president and sports players are being covered by major outlets at the same time as Hurricane Maria. Hurricane Maria & Puerto Rico are both mentioned in fewer than 1000 sentences a day, and the hurricanes that hit the mainland US are mentioned in 2000 to 4000 sentences a day. Hurricane Maria & Puerto Rico also get about half the TV coverage that the hurricanes that hit the mainland US did. BBC and CNN mentioned Hurricane Maria the most. One potential reason for Puerto Rico being treated differently by the media is Puerto Rico’s status as a territory.
More people get their news from TV, and if it is not on TV, many people will not know about it. If the people are not aware, then they will not push the government to do something about Puerto Rico. People will be more worried about the hurricanes that hit the US. I think that the media spends less time covering Hurricane Maria & Puerto Rico because more people want to worry about themselves first and then focus on helping others.  The National Society of Hispanic Journalists calls for more coverage in the media, because more coverage is more awareness, and more awareness will change the political agenda. More media coverage will result in citizens pushing politicians to aid Puerto Rico. Politicians want to be reelected, so if more people want to aid Puerto Rico, the politicians will promise to aid Puerto Rico to get more votes.

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