There will be many after-effects to this current
situation. I sincerely hope one of them is a change in people’s attitudes
towards ‘the News.’
I’m not going to blather on about it, but I think a
huge number of the ‘reporters’ working in British television, radio and
newspapers need to have a serious think about how they’ve involved themselves
in the coronavirus crisis. What we’ve needed is support, hope, guidance and
accuracy. What we’ve been getting is doom, bullshit, self-serving exaggeration
and panic-inducing hearsay.
Networks have been falling over themselves to find
ways to convince people to stay tuned. When there’s been no need for ‘up to the
minute updates’ they’ve created them anyway, for fear of people turning over to
watch something that might be cheerful. A modicum of misinformation is ballooned
into a three-hour opportunity for debate, with ‘experts’ indulging in
speculation that is about as based in fact as I am based in Peru.
Remember that stockpiling from supermarkets?
Wouldn’t have happened without pictures of empty shelves. They doctor the facts
to suit their own needs, with no regard for the effect on the public.
It’s been sickening, and it should never happen
again.
But it will.
RC 9-4-20
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