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. 
  

Knife Crime

TODAY Monday July 7 2008, marks the third anniversary of the July 7 terror attacks in London.

The suicide bombings on the capital’s transport network shocked the country and brought terrorism to our streets. 52 Innocent lives were cut short, families of those that were killed and people throughout the country were appalled by the act of senseless and callous murder.

Today though it would appear that terrorism is not the biggest worry on the streets, it is in-fact knife crime. So far 19 teenagers have been murdered on the streets of London this year alone, many of them stabbed to death. And the number killed increase week by week.

Just last week, the Metropolitan Police announced they were to make knife crime their number one priority. The Met aims to step up measures - like increased stop and search and the use of metal detectors - to rid the streets of knives. But sadly I don’t this will really have much effect. The root cause needs to be tackled.

So why has knife crime become so prevalent in our society?

The question is complex and not easy to answer at all. Of course it is easy to turn to the bad role models and blame them. But we need to take a closer look at the country we live in today.

We live in a broken society. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. We are obsessed with ourselves, and bettering our own lives. We want to work long hours or feel we must to get as much money as possible. Yet our family lives are becoming more no-existent. Our children spend more time in school then with their parents. And there seems to be a general lack of respect and trust for those in positions of authority.   

I could go on, but maybe that should be left for another time. 

So, it will not be an easy task to rid our streets of the sickening teenage killings. But we must try with all our might to do so to make our country a safer and free place to live. We must pick ourselves up and stand tall to defend what is right, just as we did after the events of three years ago today.

London Elects

TODAY, Thursday 1 May, whilst sitting in the park by Embankment, London I was unfortunate enough to receive a gift from a passing pigeon.

Not only did my newspaper get splattered but my brand new trousers were attacked too. But as they say 'sh*t happens' and I think I will recover. 

More importantly today though, London Elects. We get the chance to change Mayor and change our leadership. This is a welcome thought seeing as we cannot as yet do much about our blithering, blundering PM Mr Brown. 

At the moment it is too close to call as to whether Ken Livingstone (lab) will be re-elected or if bumbling Boris Johnson (con) will be voted in. (Full list of candidates here).

To me though there seems to be a air of change in London today. People I have met on the street seem to be fed up with Mayor Ken, fresh leadership may be just what London needs at the moment.

With the threat of a downturn in the economy if not an economic crisis, this global capital needs strong leadership. And if not from a strong central government then from a strong mayor instead. 

But it is just too hard to predict, Boris and Ken have been changing positions in the polls all week. 

We may not vote the right man (or woman) in but at least if we vote we can have the right to criticize and hold the mayor to account.  

So I urge, if you haven't voted to day, go out and do so. Make sure nothing stops you voting today, not even a pigeon pooing on your head. It didn't stop me.