Wednesday 4th January 2006
Revel in Thy Misery
Once again, I’m watching the BBC News, and once again, they are revelling in someone’s misery. This time, it’s a long, drawn out look at the families of some American miners who were mistakenly lead to believe that their loved ones had survied a mining accident, when in fact they hadn’t. And that’s now the entire story - the misery of the families - in minute by minute detail, illustrated in excruciating close-up for all to see.
In the reporting of any tragedy, there will be misery, but the BBC seem to be continually focused on it. They even have a section of the Breakfast program, at 8.20am each day, which seems strangely pre-disposed to getting on some members of the public who have something distressing happen to them - generally the death of a relative - and interview them about it. But why? Generally these people have nothing else to narrate to the world other than to delve into their personal misery. It’s not as if the story is of a courageous bounce back from tragedy to do something remarkable, they’re just victims.
And the BBC revel in it. You can feel them drooling over another story full of raw personal misery, just desperate to get them on air in all it’s glory. I wish they would stop.
I think you’re right and i also think that the BBC along with most other news broadcasters need to get away from the sensationalism that they insist on forcing down our throats with every broadcast.
They seem to have moved away from reporting a more towards speculating and guessing - the Buncefield disaster being a point-in-case.
Comment by Dan — 5/1/2006 @ 11:00 am
I like reading the Economist each week, because it seems to be the last bastion of non-sensationalism. Newspapers and the BBC are becoming as fleeting and irrelevant as Slashdot - what I want is a more considered, balanced and in-depth look at current affairs.
And while I’m at it, I wish the BBC would actually go and find some stories - when was the last time they managed two back-to-back items without one of them being “according to a report [which was written by idiots who get paid by the broadcasted news item] released today” and the other being “according to a survey [of complete idiots down the local pub] published today”?
Comment by Andy — 5/1/2006 @ 11:48 pm
I too have given up on BBC News (on TV). Whilst I continue to read the web site (international edition, of course) and listen to Radio 4, the only news programme I think is worth watching is Channel 4. Channel 4 News remains the most ‘intelligent’ news programme on TV and a worthy tribute to ITN’s heritage, despite the way ITV News has gone down hill. The only trouble is that 7pm is a little early in the evening much of the time. Thankfully, all the video reports are available on their web site.
Comment by Mustafa Arif — 7/1/2006 @ 1:38 am
There was a time when news didn’t have to be bad news, but nowadays it always seems that way. On a quiet news day, I’ll turn on the BBC News and find that something I regularly do, like eat bananas or ride a bike, is going to kill me (according to a group of obscure scientists). They find the most mundane, boring, irrelevant story they can about something depressing or about death and misery and illness and decay. I’d quite like to turn the news on and see something good, something benefitting someone, and I mean more than the 2 minute segment after the weather on ITV.
Comment by Andrew — 16/1/2006 @ 6:21 pm