ITN outrage March 17, 2008

That man (taller) and woman (shorter) who stand there in the studio, with the grave tone, whilst the chimes of doom are rung, are having a laugh?! Sensationalising all manner of bad news. Particularly the weather. Anyone would have thought it was ‘the end’.

But they are only doing their job. They may be creating the news and the news style and the news agenda, but they really would not get away with it if people really didn’t want it. We do. I guess. It’s our way of wrapping our arms around ourselves and creating a siege mentality (favoured by Manchester United under Ferguson) whereby we retain a sense of ‘nation’. Of England and Britain foremost. Then of ‘the family of man’. If we could find life on any or many of these new planets that keep being discovered, we would truly feel ourselves the global village and feel the Stans and Slavs and others to be truly our relatives and on our team. As it is, geographically we certainly do not.

We have an oversubscription of news-gatherers, seizing on every little thing, policing our shores, pressurising every Premiership football manager and player and referee. Perhaps this is all inevitable and not so bad, even if a little spoiling. One shudders at many of the bigger things going unreported in less ‘important’ (historically rich) countries.

Get ready for the News, any second now.