News In Briefs

The Truth Behind The Beaconsfield Rescue

As harsh as it sounds, I know that journalists everywhere were hoping those guys would die down there, or maybe have to be carried out to a waiting ambulance. It's somehow anti-climactic when it's good news rather than bad news.

Why is bad news so much more newsworthy than good news? If the miners had somehow died then the week of super-coverage would have paid off in an orgasmic pity frenzy. And the general public would have been told never to hope once more.

Perhaps that's the goal of our modern journalism. To keep everyone as cynical and narcisistic as the journalists themselves. That way they'd keep voting for blatant liars, buying goods from blatant criminals, and engage in activities that:

a:) kill themselves

b:) kill the natural environment or

c:) kill each other.

Now I'm far from being a bleeding heart greeny or eco-warrior, in fact I drive a V6 every day and a rev-happy rally machine on the weekends. I love the sound of hundreds of cubic inches gargling fire and fuel. But I don't go endorsing a massive corporation that rapes the Amazon so their cows can provide beef products for their food, no matter how tasty a 'royale with cheese' may be.

Remember what Bill Hicks said: "Go back to sleep, your government is in control." Perhaps it's time we look at whether our news organisations simply have brief flings with our leaders, or are they the type of people that like to spoon on a regular basis. Maybe that's why so many journo's burn out: they just want their chosen politician to cuddle after they lie to the masses.

posted by Steve @ Wednesday, May 10, 2006