Where is the news...?

The Sunday Gleaner was in high demand this morning. I went to a pharmacy around noon to buy a copy to discover that they were sold out already. I went to a supermarket next door, and they were sold out there also. My curiosity was strongly stimulated, and I asked the salesperson what the news was this morning, but she didn't know. I had to find out, and I drove to another supermarket. Luckily, it had a few copies left, and I finally got to look at the front page headline. It said "Not Important," with huge photos of the faces of the two U.S. presidential candidates.

The news that helped sell the paper so well this morning was merely that a former prime minister of Jamaica said that neither of the two U.S. presidential candidates cared very much about Jamaica. My first reaction was, what is the news about this? It does not seem to me that the information makes any news; there is no story in it even. I mean, most of the countries of the world wouldn't be considered very important by the two candidates at the moment in any case, and to me, it's no news if Jamaica wouldn't be an exception. How is it that such a matter would make interesting news for so many Jamaican people to make the paper sold out? Or is the general assumption that Jamaica is considered more important than others by U.S.? I am puzzled...

By the way, to continue with yesterday's story on Jamaican people's love of fried food, on the lower right-hand corner of the photo, you can see an advertisement of Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is by far the most thriving among the U.S. fastfood chains operating in Jamaica. In contrast, McDonald's didn't do well at all in Jamaica and withdrew in October 2005. To me, that was big news, that McDonald's, the global giant that seems to be able to grow everywhere, couldn't compete in Jamaica. But it didn't make any headline on Jamaican papers...!