I read a statistic somewhere saying that for a natural disaster or man-made calamity to be reported in US media, a certain number of deaths has to be reached. That number is lower when the deaths are of Americans. When the victims are foreign nationals, the number has to be higher, and different countries get different numbers (e.g., 5 people in the US vs. 50 people in the UK vs. 500 in Sudan -- just making up some numbers for an example).

Not trying to get political here, but maybe this is why the coverage of Bangkok isn't so good here. Although a terrible situation, the flood is too far and not deadly enough for the news hounds. Just a guess.

DB