Noam Chomsky, had a rather simple and brilliant method of calculating how much coverage particular topics got. It's used in manufacturing consent. He or some grad students, collected all column inches related to East Timor and compared against the Khmer Rouge atrocities coverage in Cambodia. They found that the coverage of the atrocities far far outweighed the coverage of the "US supported Indonesian invasion and subjugation of East Timor".
It is this point I feel the parent is making, that the amount of coverage a topic receives is rooted in the propaganda aims of the powers that be and in the biases they wish to instill or are already instilled in the media consuming public.
It is this point I feel the parent is making, that the amount of coverage a topic receives is rooted in the propaganda aims of the powers that be and in the biases they wish to instill or are already instilled in the media consuming public.