It had to happen. CNN's Headline News, the 30-minute news summary that plays continuously 24 hours a day, now contains The Global Minute, a whole minute devoted to world news, containing three 20-second reports from different areas of the world. This puts international news on a par with Hollywood-Headline News has offered The Hollywood Minute for some time.

Walter Cronkite, Katherine Graham and Alistair Cooke are just three of the "old-timers" who have lamented the current state of international news coverage.

Alistair Cooke, former presenter of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre, has presented his weekly BBC radio Letter From America for over 50 years. Now well into his 90s, Cooke pointed out that the average TV news sound bite is now down to six or seven seconds. "If Abraham Lincoln was to issue the Emancipation Declaration today, he would simply say, 'Read my lips. No more slavery.'" I am continually fascinated by what the major networks consider the lead news item each evening. When I'm home in the evenings, I try to watch BBC America's World News program at 6 p.m. (EST) and follow this with ABC's, CBS's or NBC's 6:30 news. It's as if I've switched to an alternative universe that is experiencing completely different problems. Later in the evening, I sometimes watch CNN or the Fox News channel, but they tend to offer the same fare as the 6:30 news on the main U.S. networks.

Challenges for the new administration

Recently the BBC led an evening report with a story about confusion in the U.S. Department of Defense. Somebody had announced that Washington was canceling all military contacts with China following the recent seizure of a U.S. spy plane by Beijing. A few hours later another person in the same department said that this was not the case; rather, the United States was reviewing its military ties with China. This situation sent shock waves around the world as America's allies perceived uncertainty and confusion in the new Bush administration.

The lead item on the American networks? The serious injuries suffered by a supermodel involved in a car accident. I stayed with the networks to see which news item the confusion at the Department of Defense would be-first, second, third, fourth or fifth? It wasn't even mentioned. Finding this unbelievable, I checked the major networks again at 7 a.m. the following morning.

Again, lots of coverage on the supermodel's injuries, but no mention of the confusion in Washington.

A couple of weeks later, the major news on the BBC was of U.S. reluctance to get directly involved in the Middle East conflict, a vacuum filled by the EU. Again, not a mention of America's noninvolvement on the U.S. networks, or any mention of the EU's growing role in the Mideast.

I don't watch the news every day, so it's possible that the following have been covered, but they certainly weren't covered on the day that they received considerable attention from the BBC. As you can see, it would be difficult to fit them into The Global Minute.

News you may have missed

World condemnation of the new administration's refusal to sign the Kyoto Treaty.

Increasing concern on world financial markets about the rising U.S. trade deficit.

Disillusionment and criticism of the Bush administration's non-attendance at the African AIDS conference in Abuja, Nigeria. (Former President Clinton attended. Secretary of State Colin Powell was hurriedly dispatched to Africa afterwards, but it was too late-the new administration was seen as uncaring.) America's failure to support moves toward reconciliation between the two Koreas and the EU's subsequent involvement, thereby filling the vacuum left by the U.S.

And the latest big news item, coming in on Memorial Day and totally neglected by U.S. networks: a major speech by French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin outlining his vision of a future united Europe. France and Germany have distinctly different visions of Europe's future. Even the French president and prime minister differ. The BBC's interpretation is that next year, 2002, with the transition to the euro complete, Franco-German differences will come to a head.

This particular news item reminded me of another carried by the BBC recently: A tour of the new home of the German chancellor in Berlin. Apparently he is none too pleased with the garish modern architecture of the building. But, whether he likes it or not, the BBC concluded, "this is European headquarters for decades to come," recognizing the reality that Germany is in the driver's seat of the EU and the German chancellor is the driver. (The analogy is apt: The British and the Germans drive on opposite sides of the road!)

Commercial pressures

As you can see from the above, it's not just overseas news that is neglected by the networks.

Regular viewing of the BBC's news program seems increasingly vital to learn American news.

This lack of depth on the part of the networks was strongly criticized recently by both Walter Cronkite, respected former anchorman for CBS, and Katherine Graham, Washington Post and Newsweek publisher, on CNN's Larry King Live.

One of the basic problems is that U.S. networks are subject to commercial pressures, while the BBC is not. The British Broadcasting Corporation was set up by the British government 80 years ago, with a mandate to inform, educate and entertain. Domestically, a license fee finances it. Its overseas radio service is financed by a grant from the British Foreign Office, which has no control over program content. Its three-year-old American television station is financed from commercials, but enjoys the full benefits of the BBC's international operations.

American news programs have to make a profit. With increasing competition from cable and satellite stations, the number of minutes devoted to news has progressively declined to make way for more ads. Further cuts to reduce expenditures have meant that there is less international news, while coverage from the White House has increased.

It's comparatively cheap to keep a news team outside the White House. The downside is that viewers are left with an impression, reinforced nightly on their television screens, that the president of the United States is at the very center of the universe and everything revolves around him. This false impression doesn't help presidents either. It's easy for the occupant in the White House to feel that he is at the center of all things. The downside is that the electorate blames him for anything that goes wrong. So does the rest of the world.

On a recent trip to both Africa and England I found an increased amount of anti-Americanism. I was not the only one to observe this-others who have recently traveled have made the same observation. Nothing has been said on U.S. television about this disturbing trend. Perhaps the reason is that few of the reporters who dominate our television news ever travel outside the country. At the same time, a full one-third of all U.S. congressmen don't even possess a passport. It's reasonable to assume that they probably don't read foreign news services or watch foreign news programs either.

This myopic mentality is America's Achilles' heel, a major weakness that could prove fatal if not rectified. Citizens of the world's only superpower need to be kept fully informed of developments around the world. Thomas Jefferson put it very well when he said, "A democratic society depends upon an informed and educated citizenry."

How best can people keep informed?

The BBC's World News program is one way. BBC America's channel is available on some cable stations and on satellite. The World News program is also shown nightly on some PBS stations.

If your PBS station doesn't show it, request it. An alternative news program, better in some respects, is ITN's World News for Public Television, an international news service from the United Kingdom that is made available to public television stations. ITN is the primary news service of the U.K.'s commercial networks.

Sadly, neither of these programs is available in the United Kingdom. The BBC and ITN domestic news programs do not offer viewers the same depth of coverage of international affairs that they offer to others around the world.

Perhaps it's simply that most people on both sides of the Atlantic have become more parochial.

Faced with an increasing complexity of problems afflicting foreign nations, they have simply withdrawn into their own little world. However, such a trend only serves to emphasize the greater need for television networks to inform and educate viewers into appreciating what is important and what will ultimately affect them the most.

In the context of world end-time events, Jesus Christ instructed His disciples to "Watch and pray" (Mark 13:33) to be spiritually prepared for the upheavals that are prophesied to strike this world prior to Christ's second coming and the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

It is ironic that at such a time people are less interested in the rest of the world than they were two, three or four decades ago. A further irony is that this comes at a time when technological advances have enabled us to see international events live from the four corners of the world.

It doesn't take much time. Just a few minutes a day. If you have no time for television, try National Public Radio. Many NPR stations have good quality news and other programs throughout the day-you can listen while you drive to and from work. Some stations even carry the BBC World Service's 24-hour-a-day radio station at different times-a very good way to keep up on world news.

(PBS's Newshour With Jim Lehrer, while not subject to commercial pressures, has limited resources and is not a good source for international news.)

The Bible shows us that continuing problems in the Middle East will eventually lead to a major conflict involving many nations. At the same time, it tells of the rise of a 10-nation superpower that will ultimately threaten the United States and Britain. Preceding this, we can expect a further decline in American domination of the world.

Many developments are leading us inevitably toward these events. Unfortunately, our nightly news programs are not giving them the attention they deserve. That does not mean they go unnoticed.

Foreign news services do notice and report on many of them. All we have to do is make the effort to watch or listen on a regular basis. It doesn't take much effort to be among the best-informed citizenry in the land, people who would make Thomas Jefferson proud. WNP