With the proliferation of print and electronic media, coupled with a similar increase in citizen journalism, it is now quite easy to access multiple sources of news from around the world.
In stark contrast to the time when there was only one state-owned television channel and radio station with their hourly news bulletins, public today have access to as many sources of news as they need to satiate their appetite for the going-ons around them. Now the internet, too, has a key role in not only augmenting the sources of news, but also in enhancing the way in which news is received.
However, with such a massive amount of information at the disposal of the audiences, it sometimes becomes a little difficult to judge between different stories — which stories need immediate attention? Which issues need to be addressed first? Which issues can be set aside for a while? These decisions simply reflect the understanding and need of time.
Ten Stories is a website which gathers stories that are important and need attention. On an annual basis, this website brings out a list of 10 pressing global issues to direct the attention of people towards them. A venture of the department of public information of the UN, this list of 10 stories was first released in 2004 and continues to date.
You can go through this website to discover more about the current press issues — which are essentially the key happenings of 2007. The issues which, according to this website, should receive more time, space and attention include the plight of the female soldiers, keeping bird flu from becoming pandemic, key advances in the prevention and treatment of malaria, the peace process in Northern Uganda, the divide between Afghanistan, the international community, and others. Within the individual webpage of each issue, you can read up on what the story really is, which will give you some insight into its significance.
The context of the story is described next — this includes a little bit of background along with facts and figures given in bullet points for easy reading. At the end, there are links pointing to more web-spaces in the cyberspace which you can peruse to find more about the issue.
Moreover, the website has an archive of its previous key issues categorised by the year they were brought to the forefront. So you can delve into any or all of these years from 2004 to 2006 inclusive, and read up on the issues which were the main concerns of media at that time.
Of course, at the end of the day, the question arises: what next. Now that you know about the issues, you can make your own judgment as to which issues you consider important enough to direct your attention to, irrespective of the news media which you use to get your information.
This website is one of the many around cyberspace which can help you decide which news to look out for, and whether or not you consider them as pressing issues is entirely up to you.
To discover the ten most important stories you should know more about, log onto http://www.un.org/events/tenstories
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