In college, I was very interested in the politics of Central America – El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. Because I took a Spanish language class at San Jose State University, I discussed with my fellow students the news from Spanish language stations from Latin America. I came to realize that Spanish language television news from Mexico covered many stories from Nicaragua and El Salvador that CBS, NBC, and ABC news did not cover.
I asked my pastor at church, Father Clemens, if he knew someone at Santa Clara University who was connected with Central America. He introduced me to Father James Torrens who connected me with a newsletter from Costa Rica about Central American Politics and life.
Upon receiving the newsletter monthly, I was shocked how dramatically different the United States television networks ignored news from Central America. At the time, Nicaragua and El Salvador were very important political stories, because they were debated by many US Congressmen. Yet many relevant facts about Latin America were not being covered by the US television networks.
I was reading a writer from Mexico describe the United States and he wrote that “Americans see the world like we have mirrors at our borders.” Americans see the rest of the world like we see the United States, even though the world is vastly different – social customs, poverty, infrastructure, media, and government. Americans do not seem to distinguish our own country from other countries which are vastly different. I think Americans find it very difficult to see the world accurately, because the news media is not presenting vital information about the world. Moreover, I do not think the news media objectively and fairly covers domestic issues in the United States. How objective are we as Americans?
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