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Are Americans so ignorant to justify the publication of such an article? (OK, I must admit, I had never heard of Mykola Lysenko before.) * * * EDIT: it seems

by nmc 13y ago

Are Americans so ignorant to justify the publication of such an article? (OK, I must admit, I had never heard of Mykola Lysenko before.) * * * EDIT: it seems this post is getting misunderstood, because I tried (and apparently failed) to shorten the following interrogation. 1. The Washington Post is an American newspaper. 2. The article explains a situation by giving a basic history lesson, and does not contain any new or exclusive information. 3. The title of the article, and the four first questions, are clearly aimed at people who ignore most about Ukraine, including its very existence. So the target audience is: Americans who do not know anything about Ukraine. My initial assumption would be that this is a small group. However, the average weekday circulation of The Washington Post is above 400,000. Summing up, it looks like some editors at The Washington Post believe that a lot of Americans are ignorant of facts about Ukraine, possibly including the very existence of a country called Ukraine. In my opinion, such a belief is questionable, hence my original interrogation. * * * To go further, I believe that another article could have been written, with all the interesting information from this one, and without the obvious in-case-you-are-not-aware-of-Ukraine part. I also believe that an equivalent event would not be published in an equivalent newspaper in France, Spain, or The Netherlands. This is why I am wondering whether that kind of articles is specific to American newspapers. * * * This all started with me having a question. Despite all the downvotes, I am happy about all the answers that help me better understand American press.

deleted 13y ago
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hedgie13 13y ago
> Are Americans so ignorant to justify the publication of such an article? Yes. They will also uncritically read everything what is written there.
- nmc 13y ago
  Hard to tell because of the written means, but I hope you are being ironic.
acqq 13y ago
I guess you refer to "1. What is Ukraine? Ukraine – not "the Ukraine." Whoever got stuck there will miss the rest of the article which is quite good. If you actually got stuck there, please avoid claiming what others are. Disclaimer: not an American.
- nmc 13y ago
  Yes, I mostly refer to that first question. I did not get stuck there. I believe you misunderstood my post. I do not claim Americans are ignorant — I was asking a question anyway, so not claiming anything. I believe that, by publishing such a basic article, The Washington Post is claiming Americans are ignorant. I am trying to understand that particular phenomenon: why would a respectable newspaper, made for educated people, publish an article intended to the ignorant?
  - acqq 13y ago
    Like you admitted yourself, you also didn't know everything from the article. So your added claim: "2. The article explains a situation by giving a basic history lesson, and does not contain any new or exclusive information." Doesn't hold in my opinion. The article is more than "basic" for anybody not following Ukraine permanently. Still can I agree with you if you consider the article tone a bit insulting to the reader. I find it a strange etiquette, openly writing to the reader as he's "too simple." But I believe enough readers consider it a joke, exactly on the topic "most Americans don't know anything about the World."
    - nmc 13y ago
      To be fair, I wrote "new or exclusive", not "unknown to me". The "strange etiquette" you mention is exactly what I was referring to. Except that, to me, it did not feel like a joke, so I wanted to be sure — I am probably not enough used to some aspects of American culture.
  - moocowduckquack 13y ago
    It is one of the maxims of US media. "No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby." H. L. Mencken, "Notes on Journalism" Personally, I think that this rule being taken seriously has done more damage for US culture than just about anything else.
Jtsummers 13y ago
> So the target audience is: Americans who do not know anything about Ukraine. My initial assumption would be that this is a small group. However, the average weekday circulation of The Washington Post is above 400,000. Keep in mind, there are presently (per Wikipedia) some 206 sovereign states. Excluding the numerous other states that have come and gone throughout history. I would expect, for any given country, most Americans to be ignorant of its history outside of those we have closer historical or geographical ties to (I'd expect more Americans to know the history of England, for instance, than of Bolivia; or Canada versus Nigeria).
untog 13y ago
So the target audience is: Americans who do not know anything about Ukraine. My initial assumption would be that this is a small group. Your initial assumption is incorrect. In any case, one of the great things about online news vs. newspapers is that an article like this doesn't steal page space from another. You can write this and a much deeper dive and release them both.
kasey_junk 13y ago
To clarify a few things: 1. This was not an article from the Washington Post newspaper. It was from their online blog group. In many news outfits this is a signal that the output can be in a less formal tone/pass a different set of editorial hurdles. 2. A maxim in the American newspaper business has historically been to write to an 8th grade (12 and 13 year old) audience. They have historically felt that the American newspaper buying audience is ignorant. 3. Ukrainian politics does not receive very much coverage from the mainstream news organizations in the United States. For instance, cnn.com only has 1 story on their front page about the Ukraine and it is well below the fold. Foxnews.com has 1 story but it is headlined with highly sensational text. So in short, yes I suspect a large part of the United States news paper reading public could use a refresher on the Ukraine protests. Curiously, in your country how much coverage do you receive of the politics of Texas? How much about the Philippines?
dec0dedab0de 13y ago
The only thing most Americans know about Ukraine is that it was former USSR. I actually tried talking about the protests to about 10 different people this past weekend, and none had even heard about them.

by nmc 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

hedgie13 13y ago

> Are Americans so ignorant to justify the publication of such an article? Yes. They will also uncritically read everything what is written there.

nmc 13y ago
Hard to tell because of the written means, but I hope you are being ironic.

acqq 13y ago

I guess you refer to "1. What is Ukraine? Ukraine – not "the Ukraine." Whoever got stuck there will miss the rest of the article which is quite good. If you actually got stuck there, please avoid claiming what others are. Disclaimer: not an American.

nmc 13y ago
Yes, I mostly refer to that first question. I did not get stuck there. I believe you misunderstood my post. I do not claim Americans are ignorant — I was asking a question anyway, so not claiming anything. I believe that, by publishing such a basic article, The Washington Post is claiming Americans are ignorant. I am trying to understand that particular phenomenon: why would a respectable newspaper, made for educated people, publish an article intended to the ignorant?
- acqq 13y ago
  Like you admitted yourself, you also didn't know everything from the article. So your added claim: "2. The article explains a situation by giving a basic history lesson, and does not contain any new or exclusive information." Doesn't hold in my opinion. The article is more than "basic" for anybody not following Ukraine permanently. Still can I agree with you if you consider the article tone a bit insulting to the reader. I find it a strange etiquette, openly writing to the reader as he's "too simple." But I believe enough readers consider it a joke, exactly on the topic "most Americans don't know anything about the World."
  - nmc 13y ago
    To be fair, I wrote "new or exclusive", not "unknown to me". The "strange etiquette" you mention is exactly what I was referring to. Except that, to me, it did not feel like a joke, so I wanted to be sure — I am probably not enough used to some aspects of American culture.
- moocowduckquack 13y ago
  It is one of the maxims of US media. "No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby." H. L. Mencken, "Notes on Journalism" Personally, I think that this rule being taken seriously has done more damage for US culture than just about anything else.

Jtsummers 13y ago

> So the target audience is: Americans who do not know anything about Ukraine. My initial assumption would be that this is a small group. However, the average weekday circulation of The Washington Post is above 400,000. Keep in mind, there are presently (per Wikipedia) some 206 sovereign states. Excluding the numerous other states that have come and gone throughout history. I would expect, for any given country, most Americans to be ignorant of its history outside of those we have closer historical or geographical ties to (I'd expect more Americans to know the history of England, for instance, than of Bolivia; or Canada versus Nigeria).

untog 13y ago

So the target audience is: Americans who do not know anything about Ukraine. My initial assumption would be that this is a small group. Your initial assumption is incorrect. In any case, one of the great things about online news vs. newspapers is that an article like this doesn't steal page space from another. You can write this and a much deeper dive and release them both.

kasey_junk 13y ago

To clarify a few things: 1. This was not an article from the Washington Post newspaper. It was from their online blog group. In many news outfits this is a signal that the output can be in a less formal tone/pass a different set of editorial hurdles. 2. A maxim in the American newspaper business has historically been to write to an 8th grade (12 and 13 year old) audience. They have historically felt that the American newspaper buying audience is ignorant. 3. Ukrainian politics does not receive very much coverage from the mainstream news organizations in the United States. For instance, cnn.com only has 1 story on their front page about the Ukraine and it is well below the fold. Foxnews.com has 1 story but it is headlined with highly sensational text. So in short, yes I suspect a large part of the United States news paper reading public could use a refresher on the Ukraine protests. Curiously, in your country how much coverage do you receive of the politics of Texas? How much about the Philippines?

dec0dedab0de 13y ago

The only thing most Americans know about Ukraine is that it was former USSR. I actually tried talking about the protests to about 10 different people this past weekend, and none had even heard about them.