Hyperregionalism will destroy the American culture

I recently read an interview in a national magazine from the head of one of the biggest newspaper groups in the U.S. In the interview, he claimed that the solution to save newspapers is to subscribe to what he called "hyper-regionalism" - focusing almost solely in your area, leaving the rest of the world for others to cover.

While this solution may save newspaper, it may destroy American culture. And that worries me.
His plan does make sense economically speaking: by focusing on the local, newspaper can more easily attract advertisers. It's easier to charge less while having more sectoral readers than charge ten times more, and convince an advertiser their market's "somewhere in there."

It explain how more local and special sections appear on papers nowadays more than ever before. What it doesn't show is how, with that, we're killing our own knowledge. International and even national coverage is being related to a distant fourth, with the claim that "if one wants such news, one can find it somewhere else." The problem is, however, it's always
somewhere else.

In a study I have recently conducted among top American newspapers in 2004-2005, three in every four international stories on the front page of said papers focused on Iraq. In other words, we barely showcased that year news from any of the other 191 countries in the world.

It is true: local newspapers can and should give a better coverage of local stories than any other. It's just plain logic: beat reporters should know more about sources, about locations; what to do, who to see, where to go. Editors should have a jump start on figuring out whether or not to cover a specific story. It should not mean, however, that other types of stories should be simply forgotten, relegated or left for others.

One can claim the Internet will provide the missing information. However, those same people claim newspapers are here to stay, no matter what. They'll always be the breakfast table reading. And by increasing more and more the ink devoted to local news stories, and decreasing the rest, one could be damaging the culture and, consequently, the future generations. Many may make fun of pageant competitors who don't seem to know where a foreign county is located in a map. However, it is the harsh reality of our education, and apparently some of our media outlets, who value the local and forget the foreign. Sadly, I fear for the day our kids not only won't locate a foreign country, but won't recognize it either. Iran, China, Hong Kong and Dubai will only be words in a dictionary or in newspapers or web sites read by only a handful that
actually care enough.

While some already claim Americans know a lot about themselves and very little about others, such actions can only add to that. And, unfortunately, this time it may be true.