Counterpoint: "What do you mean you're skeptical the Germans are bayonetting and barbecuing Belgian babies with bratwurstand beer? That's what the Huns do. Stop swallowing the Kaiser's propaganda, Herr Waygook!"

Or perhaps an example we can more relate to- Remember the annual "We're on the verge of nuclear war with North Korea" panic we'd get? Media back home scaring everyone and panicked calls from parents while everyone here was like "Uhh...no one is panicked. This happens all the time."

Lets just say I'm skeptical that Japanese are blowing their kids and Colombians are banging llamas as a write of passage en masse. Also, I have the sneaking suspicion that the tribe in Africa you photographed, immediately after you left, fired up the tractor and threw the spears back in the "we got tourists" pile and went back to calling their sister in the big city on the satellite phone and asking how her Uni biology class is going/watching the game on the satellite dish while the $10k they got from whatever magazine/news show is divvied up.

The point is, I'm just naturally skeptical of foreign media reports about other countries and the more sensational the claim, the greater evidence I require and the more skeptical I am at the start. Like it's one thing to think that Chinese riot police are tear gassing some people in Hong Kong. It's another to think that China is just locking every single person in Shanghai into their house and if they starve to death, whatever.