jeff@rtech.ARPA (Jeff Lichtman) (02/07/85)
The February issue of the World Press Review asked several news agencies and
editors around the world what they thought were the top ten news stories of
1984. Here are the results:
Associated Press
1. The Reagan landslide
2. The gas leak disaster in Bhopal
3. Geraldine Ferraro nominated
4. Indira Gandhi assassinated
5. The bombing of the U.S. embassy annex in Beirut
6. The Ethiopian famine and African drought
7. The Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
8. The heart implants:: Baby Fae and Schroeder
9. The U.S. economy: low inflation, high deficits, recovery
10. The slaying of twenty-one people in San Ysidro McDonald's
United Press International (poll taken before Bhopal disaster)
1. Geraldine Ferraro nominated
2,3. Baby Fae and the McDonald's massacre (tie)
4. The Reagan landslide
5. The Gandhi assassination
6. Beirut Embassy annex bombing
7. Miss America dethroned
8. The Winter and Summer Olympics
9. The DeLorean trial
10. The economy, budget deficits
Gemini News Service, London (Derek Ingram, Editor)
1. China waters down its Socialism
2. Famine in Africa
3. Indira Gandhi's assassination
4. First signs of an East-West thaw
5. The dollar flies high
6. The U.S. squeezes international organizations
7. South Africa's counteroffensive against black Africa
8. The untethered space walks
9. The video craze
10. Mrs. Thatcher's fight with the miners
Jeune Afrique, Paris (Bechir Ben Yahmed, Publisher)
1. Drought and starvation in Africa, mainly in Ethiopia
2. Guinea: the death of Sekou Toure, the military takes power
3. Indira Gandhi's assassination
4. The reelection of Ronald Reagan
5. Economic recovery in the U.S.
6. The London-Peking agreement over Hong Kong
7. Thousands of Indians contaminated by gas in Bhopal
8. The death of Yuri Andropov
9. Capitalism in China
10. Black Youth's unrest in South Africa after the so-called "participation"
of Indians and colored in political life
The Daily Nation, Nairobi (Joe Kadhi, Managing Editor)
1. Drought and Famine in Africa
2. Indira Gandhi's assassination
3. The massacre at McDonald's in California
4. Britain's Margaret Thatcher narrowly escapes an IRA bomb
5. The rebellion and attack at the holy temple in Amritsar
6. Resumption of the Soviet-American dialogue
7. South Africa's Bishop Tutu wins the Nobel Peace Prize
8. The death of President Sekou Toure and subsequent coup in Guinea
9. A baby gets a baboon heart
10. The Hong Kong agreement
Asiaweek, Hong Kong (Michael O'Neill, Editor)
1. The Indira Gandhi assassination and violent aftermath
2. China's swing to a "planned market economy"
3. The finding of military conspiracy in the Aquino murder
4. China and Britain agree on Hong Kong's return to China
5. India's battle of the Golden Temple
6. Andropov dies, Chernenko succeeds
7. The gas tragedy at Bhopal
8. Geraldine Ferraro the first woman vice-presidential candidate
9. Soviet-U.S. relations
10. The Olympics as a media event
La Nacion, San Jose, Costa Rica (Eduardo Ulibarri, Editor)
1. The assassination of Indira Gandhi and elections in India
2. Political and economic revisionism in China
3. The reelection of Ronald Reagan
4. Famine in Africa
5. The advances of democracy in Latin America
6. The transplant of a mandrill heart to Baby Fae, and William Schroeder's
artificial heart
7. Experiments in space
8. The decision for a new round of nuclear weapons negotiations
9. The tragedies in Bhopal and Mexico City
10. The worsening political situation in Poland
UPI also asked its subscribing editors to pick the top ten stories by overall
significance (as opposed to headline impact). Here is what they chose:
1. Reagan elected by a landslide
2. Ferraro nominated for vice president
3. The economy, record budget deficits
4. Indira Gandhi assassinated
5. Baby Fae gets a baboon heart
6. Beirut U.S. Embassy annex bombing
7. The Olympics: summer and winter
8. The nationwide breakup of Bell Telephone
9. Nicaragua-U.S. tension
10. The U.S. Marines withdraw from Beirut
UPI also asked its editors what the most significant developments were in
several parts of the world. Here are the ones printed by World Press Review:
Latin America
1. Mexico gas explosions
2. Fighting and peace talks in El Salvador
3. Elections in Nicaragua
4. Elections in Uruguay
5. The kidnapping of Bolivian President Siles Suazo
6. The border conflict agreement between Chile and Argentina
Europe-Africa-Middle East
1. The Brighton bomb attack on British officials kills five
2. The bomb attacks on Americans in Lebanon
3. The murder of a pro-Solidarity priest in Poland
4. Andropov dies, Chernenko takes over
5. The famine in Ethiopia
6. Britain's marathon coal strike
Asia
1. Mrs. Gandhi assassinated
2. The Phillipine military is implicated in Aquino's murder
3. The China-Britain accord on Hong Kong
4. The South Korean president pays a historic visit to Japan
5. China promulgates economic reform
6. Extortionists in Japan lace candy with cyanide
Any comments on the differences between the lists? It seems ridiculous to me
that the Miss America business and John DeLorean's trial are on UPI's list.
Of course, UPI distiguishes between headline value and overall significance;
maybe this is why they listed these relatively trivial events. Also, what do
the editors of Jeune Afrique think "contaminated" means?
--
Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.)
aka Swazoo Koolak