Saturday, January 23, 2010

News Headlines

The BBC new headlines this morning (on the TV) are:

1. Heightened security risk
2. Pot holes
3. Social Workers failing
4. Haiti.

OK. 1 and 4 I get. 3 - Don't get me started (oh, OK, I'll expound below) but 2??? Pot holes?

1. No reason why. Just that it is. Apparently it might be to do with the detroit dude, or some 'information' that the security services of 'any of the first world countries' may have shared with the UK. OK. I get that sometimes it might be apparent that people 'hate' England. Unfortunately the UK is still losing at least one soldier per week in Helmand province. Why aren't they worrying more about that? It seems to be accepted that boys (last week one was 19!) are losing their lives almost everyday.

2. Apparently the snow has made potholes bigger. That's fine. Do I really need to see pictures of cars with broken wheel axles at 8am in the morning? I think not. If they are craters as they're showing, how hard is it to avoid the damn things? Maybe I'm a 'news snob' but this just doesn't seem like it should be the second item on the news.

3. Social workers get a bad wrap. I'm treading on fragile ground here - my sister is one. My job is quite similar (hello teachers!!!) This is in relation to the 'toxic' home lives of the two boys who tortured a couple of peers early last year in the UK. They've been sentenced indefinitely. Again, the news is chasing after the social workers who were in charge of the case. The boys (10 and 11) were on ASBOs and not removed form their parents. I don't know exactly what the 'toxicity' was in this case, however I've come across the 'normal' lives of kids in the UK. It makes me cry. While we priviledge the birth parents, children will be living in horrid conditions with minimal chance of breaking the cycle.

4. Haiti was one of the poorest countries before the earthquake. It was largely ignored. The amount of homeless people was incredible anyway. I am very sorry for the earthquake, but I am quite annoyed at the outpouring from Western Countries. Where were we when these people were struggling to survive anyway? I wonder whether the singers involved in the sing for Haiti concerts had even heard of the country before the earthquake.

Now I've expounded on the news, what are the headlines where you are and what are your thoughts about them?

4 comments:

  1. I totally get what you're saying about the potholes item. The headline on the so-called "news" site that I generally frequent is about extreme heat at a music festival. Hello! Are there not more serious things happening in the world? It drives me crazy that news is being so dumbed down.

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  2. I didn't put it on, but the 'picture' that the BBC was using for its item about the terror alert was a video of the website. Not putting the website through the TV, but an actual video of what was on the website with all the lines going across! What?!? You're the freaking BBC!!

    BDO is always really really hot. So what? It's not news. There is a reason why they give out water.

    I agree with you totally. Dumbed down news. Bane of my life.

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  3. I get so frustrated that the news does not convey information - its just sensationalised crap, populist media.

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  4. I remember being about 6 or 7 and watching the ABC news with my parents. The only item that I can remember was one about a joey who was being released to the wild. Even then I remember going, "That's not news!"

    I hate the fluff that 'news' programs insert in their time.

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