Conflict is the bread and butter of television. Whether it's between political parties, or the U.S. and "terrorists", or the "real" housewives of some random city, the media loves to show it. If we can take sides, we can be coerced into watching. Eyeballs on the screen translates into advertising dollars, and the dollar is the bottom line.
That makes international news a little dicier for the American consumer. The conflicts in Egypt hold some interest because it appears to be Muslim -vs- non-Muslim. The power struggle in the Ukraine is a little more difficult. Everyone is white, so the bad guys aren't immediately obvious. There is concern, though, because we can see what looks like cities and white faces getting hurt, and explosions which look scary (yet safe) in HD.
But what happens when the victims AND the villains are both black? Africa as a continent is huge - much bigger than the U.S. and Europe combined. It contains over 50 countries and 15% of the planet's population. Yet discussion and footage of power struggles and war and the downright horrific atrocities occurring there are practically non-existent on TV. The continent is on fire with violence and suffering, and we go about our lives, complaining about our 1st-world problems, blissfully unaware of it all.
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