A Little Rant About Media Coverage.

THERE has been pretty much wall-to-wall coverage of the sudden death of the ‘king of pop’ Michael Jackson. The story, although very shocking and unexpected, has taken over most of today’s news coverage.

This morning I listened to the Today program on BBC Radio 4. Much of which was dedicated to the story of the pop star’s death. I can honestly say there were few facts being given on the flagship morning news program. The story was even being talked about on ITV’s ‘This Morning’.

I was forced to watch Sky News today, not my preferred source of news. I was watching for the best part of an hour and no other news was mentioned. The headline ‘Michael Jackson has died’ was permanently on screen with the perverse juxtapositions of an archive clip showing the singer announcing his would-be comeback concerts in London at a press conference. It was as if Sky was showing a press-conferencing being held in the afterlife. Viewers were also shown footage from a helicopter showing the megastar’s body being moved into a private ambulance.

This blanket coverage is quite sickening and disturbing. We have been made voyeurs of what should be a respectful and sombre event. However, this is now not shocking. We saw this treatment with the death of Jade Goody not many months ago. The pointless live links and two-ways outside the Hospital or Estate, in which the report repeats the same information he told us not more than 10 minuets ago. The flashy graphics, dramatic scripts and the dreadful ‘have your say’ texts messages and emails from the viewers. It doesn’t make me feel proud of the industry.

Is it right to cover the passing of public or popular figures in such a way?

 

With little else but Jackson on the news today here are a couple of news stories from the UK and around the world.

• A 15 year old boy from Manchester has today been convicted of beating a two-year-old to death who was in his care for 90 minutes.

• Network Rail bosses are to receive bonuses totalling over £1.2m. Two directors will each receive more than £300,000 in bonuses. The bonuses have been awarded despite the company’s annual profit falling and its debt level increasing.

• A bomb in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has killed at least 15 people today. The bomb was hidden in a motorcycle. The bike had been packed with ball bearings and nails. The bombing comes after a week of violence in which 200 Iraqi’s were killed. US combat troops had been planning to pull out of cities in the country in just four days time. US and Iraqi officials state that the withdrawal will still go ahead but expect more violence.

• A senior Iranian Cleric has called on the government to harshly punish riot leaders. Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami was speaking at Friday prayers in Tehran today. The call on the government comes days before the election results are to be ratified by Iranian officials.