Tomorrow marks the addition of 10 new member states to the European Union.
For those of us living here, this is a really big thing. All day today there have been different shows on TV about the preparations and celebrations for enlargement, shows that highlight the various soon-to be member states, (By the way, after watching one of them, I have decided that my next vacation will be in Cyprus.) and from what I understand a very interesting spread in the Bild Zeitung (Germany's top-selling "newspaper") featuring scantily-clad beauties from each of the new nations.
However, about an hour and a half ago (8 pm GMT +2 and 2 pm Eastern Standard Time), I was browsing through the front page of USA Today and realized that there was not one mention of the EU Enlargement. I did a little digging and finally found an article about it, but it got me to wondering: if I looked at a variety of American news sources online, how many would mention the EU Expansion on the front page? After all, the big day is tomorrow!
In order to do my little experiment, I chose USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The LA Times, The Des Moines Register (it is Iowa biggest newspaper and that is where I am from), CNN (the US edition), MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox News. 7 of the 10 news sources (USA Today, The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, The Des Moines Register, and ABC News) did not have one word about EU Expansion on their front page. True, I was able to find articles about the EU expansion on most sites after a little digging, but according to my little experiment, only 30% of American news sources are reporting this historic moment as a top news story (i.e. worthy of the front page).
I am not sure how accurate my findings are, but if they are, I would say that it is a sad day indeed when America cares more about Michael Jackson's "not guilty plea" than this historical event that will further unite Europe as never before seen in history.
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