The Big Eye - Have I got news for you?
Can anyone remember the news from seven weeks ago? The TV and newspapers were full of it. People listened out on the radio for updates and we all waited with bated breath.
You don’t remember? I’m not surprised. We all have busy lives and in any case there’ll be another thrilling or horrific tale to tell any time soon.
This morning the press will have found themselves a new “must read” gobsmacking-sensation that captivates the nation, sells newspapers and drives conversations in offices and workplaces around the country and tomorrow there’ll be another one bursting into our conciousness.
After a time we all become increasingly desensitised to the reality of what we’re hearing and seeing and the desperation of the news media to attract our attention has resulted in them being driven to take risky decisions about what is actually newsworthy fact and what is merely idle chatter on social networks.
I’m not a tweeter or a facebooker and judging by the plethora of staggeringly inane piffle that is meat and drink to the nitwits who seem to be absorbed by it, I’m not likely to join any time soon. The noble lord, whose name was dragged through the gutter by a combination of poor journalism and and a feeding frenzy of backstabbers, has now taken his revenge on these gossips and is rattling the collecting bucket and suggesting the culprits may care to own up and cough up before he takes further action against them.
What a mess! Luckily, that particular victim had friends in high places and enough clout and resources to send in razor-sharp lawyers to carve up the tweeters.
He’s bruised but hopefully he will recover from the battering. Not everyone does and only a fortunate few have the resources to fight them.
We all know that mud sticks, and as we all now have access to a cell phone with a camera and the internet it might not be long before you could find yourself becoming bullied by the gormless tweetbookers’ rumour machine whether you’re a celeb like Cheryl Dull from Newcastle or ordinary old Brenda from Braintree.
So what should we do to stop it? Clamp down on all media? Make them totally responsible and liable for every word they utter? Produce a compensation price list for the lies and exaggerations they promote? We could do that and maybe it would work and there is no doubt that the power of all media has to be managed because there are too many innocent victims of their abuse who don’t get compensation or receive a public apology, and that has to cease.
On the other hand, a free press is the only way to have some chance of curbing the excesses and pointing out the incompetence of governments and big business.
If it wasn’t for journalists grubbing about in dustbins and digging up dirt we might never find out what they’re up to .... they just need to remember to tell the truth and try not to turn mindless celebrity tittle-tattle into news and vice versa!
Oh! And the news from 7 weeks ago? It was poor little April Jones and her family. The police are still looking for her, but she’s plainly not news any more is she?
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for King's Lynn
Saturday 18 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North east
