4 ms·

> US companies make money from stories about Chinese weather balloons. They lose money when horrific things like this happen. The carrier will lose money. But

> US companies make money from stories about Chinese weather balloons. They lose money when horrific things like this happen. The carrier will lose money. But a news company would make money, wouldn't they? Bad news is good news after all, and environmental disasters are bad news.

freen 4y ago
Likely there is considerable overlap in ownership between the handful of railway companies that dominate the market and handful of media companies that dominate the market.
- whatshisface 4y ago
  Plus advertisers (which could include chemical plants etc) are their clients.
  - JumpCrisscross 4y ago
    > advertisers (which could include chemical plants etc) are their clients The closest in the top 200 is Berkshire Hathaway [1], because they train. Also, this media hypothesis predicts Google, Pfizer, Amazon and Walmart are media darlings. (And that Apple is not.) [1] https://advertisers.mediaradar.com/Top_Print_Advertisers https://advertisers.mediaradar.com/Top_Print_Advertisers
TylerE 4y ago
Trains derail all the time. It’s dog bites man, not man bites dog.
- jessaustin 4y ago
  It isn't always "Chernobyl in Ohio", as locals are calling it. Although, that is becoming more common. If only the rail industry were regulated... maybe we need to dig up Teddy Roosevelt?
  - IIAOPSW 4y ago
    The rail industry is regulated. In certain ways over and in certain ways under. Eg, there's very little sense to the requirements a passenger train needs to reach to run on the same rails as freight, and Europe does it safely all the time.
    - TylerE 4y ago
      Not so much a matter of safety as that it’s the freight railroads that own the rails, whereas is most of Europe the infrastructure is mostly government owned, or in some cases was and is now (sorta) privatized but still under a sort of open access model.
      - IIAOPSW 4y ago
        That's a different, orthogonal issue. Look it up there's a bunch of tedious FRA rules about crash-worthiness which Europe doesn't have. It makes the trains which can legally run needlessly expensive and they wear out the tracks faster. The rules don't apply to metros and subways, but if the tracks have any switch anywhere connecting to the national network then FRA rules apply to the whole system. The result is that planners can't extend their metro via shared freight corridors. There are plenty of regulations already, and in some cases they are clearly counterproductive. Proposing to solve things by putting more regs on the pile is a dubious proposition.
        wkat4242 4y ago
        Do metros in the US even use the same gauge as trains? Here in Europe they're almost always smaller gauge so sharing isn't an option. The exception here in Barcelona is Line 1 which is a wider gauge than all the other lines, for historical reasons though it doesn't share any tracks (but lays right beside the train ones at some stations)
        TylerE 4y ago
        It's all over the place. Probably standard gauge is most common, but there's tons of variation. For instance, the DC Metro is slighly (like a half inch) narrower than standard gauge, but SF BART is MUCH wider, something like 8 inches.
- xbmcuser 4y ago
  Your dismissal make the ops point. The train derailment is not the news the environmental disaster that is happening because of it is the news. But you only know about the train derailment not much about the environmental disaster which should have been milked for views by the media normally.
  - TylerE 4y ago
    No, I know about it because I read it on the my times the day after it happened.
WeylandYutani 4y ago
I think jingoistic China bashing pays better than putting the spotlight on America's various problems and shortcomings. They did it in the 1970s and aside from brilliant Hollywood movies it wasn't a good decade for America. The less introspection the better as far as the media and political interests are concerned.
- mc32 4y ago
  How is it jingoistic when China is flying warplanes over Taiwan and their media is now making claims the US has flown 10 balloons over their territory and supposedly were about to shoot down one of them and feign ignorance about the ones they sent over to us? Or are you saying both sides are being jingoistic?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

freen 4y ago

Likely there is considerable overlap in ownership between the handful of railway companies that dominate the market and handful of media companies that dominate the market.

whatshisface 4y ago
Plus advertisers (which could include chemical plants etc) are their clients.
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > advertisers (which could include chemical plants etc) are their clients The closest in the top 200 is Berkshire Hathaway [1], because they train. Also, this media hypothesis predicts Google, Pfizer, Amazon and Walmart are media darlings. (And that Apple is not.) [1] https://advertisers.mediaradar.com/Top_Print_Advertisers https://advertisers.mediaradar.com/Top_Print_Advertisers

TylerE 4y ago

Trains derail all the time. It’s dog bites man, not man bites dog.

jessaustin 4y ago
It isn't always "Chernobyl in Ohio", as locals are calling it. Although, that is becoming more common. If only the rail industry were regulated... maybe we need to dig up Teddy Roosevelt?
- IIAOPSW 4y ago
  The rail industry is regulated. In certain ways over and in certain ways under. Eg, there's very little sense to the requirements a passenger train needs to reach to run on the same rails as freight, and Europe does it safely all the time.
  - TylerE 4y ago
    Not so much a matter of safety as that it’s the freight railroads that own the rails, whereas is most of Europe the infrastructure is mostly government owned, or in some cases was and is now (sorta) privatized but still under a sort of open access model.
    - IIAOPSW 4y ago
      That's a different, orthogonal issue. Look it up there's a bunch of tedious FRA rules about crash-worthiness which Europe doesn't have. It makes the trains which can legally run needlessly expensive and they wear out the tracks faster. The rules don't apply to metros and subways, but if the tracks have any switch anywhere connecting to the national network then FRA rules apply to the whole system. The result is that planners can't extend their metro via shared freight corridors. There are plenty of regulations already, and in some cases they are clearly counterproductive. Proposing to solve things by putting more regs on the pile is a dubious proposition.
      - wkat4242 4y ago
        Do metros in the US even use the same gauge as trains? Here in Europe they're almost always smaller gauge so sharing isn't an option. The exception here in Barcelona is Line 1 which is a wider gauge than all the other lines, for historical reasons though it doesn't share any tracks (but lays right beside the train ones at some stations)
        TylerE 4y ago
        It's all over the place. Probably standard gauge is most common, but there's tons of variation. For instance, the DC Metro is slighly (like a half inch) narrower than standard gauge, but SF BART is MUCH wider, something like 8 inches.
xbmcuser 4y ago
Your dismissal make the ops point. The train derailment is not the news the environmental disaster that is happening because of it is the news. But you only know about the train derailment not much about the environmental disaster which should have been milked for views by the media normally.
- TylerE 4y ago
  No, I know about it because I read it on the my times the day after it happened.

WeylandYutani 4y ago

I think jingoistic China bashing pays better than putting the spotlight on America's various problems and shortcomings. They did it in the 1970s and aside from brilliant Hollywood movies it wasn't a good decade for America. The less introspection the better as far as the media and political interests are concerned.

mc32 4y ago
How is it jingoistic when China is flying warplanes over Taiwan and their media is now making claims the US has flown 10 balloons over their territory and supposedly were about to shoot down one of them and feign ignorance about the ones they sent over to us? Or are you saying both sides are being jingoistic?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]