Nicholas Kristof explains the dearth of news coverage of Yemen, Syria, and the Ivory Coast

He says on his Facebook page:

People often ask why there isn't more coverage of Syria, Ivory Coast or Yemen. One answer is something that non-journalists sometimes don't appreciate -- the difficulty of getting visas. Yemen and Syria are completely blocking Americans. Only hope to get an Ivory Coast visa is to go to Senegal and beg its embassy there. Sad truth is we systematically undercover what we don't get access to.

A reader responds:

Stating this outright, more frequently, would count as 'more coverage' in my book.

I agree. Another good point from another commenter:

And thus the world media rewards dictatorships by over representing Israel in their stories instead of trying harder and covering dangerous places, or simply dictators wishing to hide their genocides.