News is a funny old thing. The supply of it is highly erratic; sometimes weeks go by and nothing much happens except some idle speculation about Tony Blair standing down, and other weeks so much happens all such thoughts are buried in the deepest recesses of our collective mind. The demand, however, stays the same, with a finite amount of news space in the papers and room for the same amount of stories on TV. It’s not like they ever decide to publish a supplement because there is too much news to fit in the main paper, and there is seldom an extended 10 o’clock news on BBC, cutting into Jonathan Ross. Another funny thing is how they manage to churn out a full paper on a Monday – what the hell happens on a Sunday worth commenting on? But when I buy the Guardian (my paper of choice on a Monday, due to the Media bit and G2 ‘review of the reviews’) there is always lots of news about a speech Gordon Brown will make about something nothing to do with the economy, or about some radical new plan to shake up immigration.
Does the news matter? Not really. When you are on holiday and don’t read any of it do you feel any worse? I suppose it gives you something to talk about in job interviews and during long days in the workplace. It also informs you of where wars are, so you don’t organise your next human rights convention in
2 comments:
I feel guilty when I don't watch the news, especially when someone mentions a story that I don't know as if it's totally obvious. Then you worry they think you're a soap-watching dunce, and are forced to make excuses for missing whatever current affair it was.
The futility of the news is strange as well. One day later and suddenly everything in the paper isn't worth knowing. Why would something that might have been interesting a week ago, suddenly lose its value because it's not 'new' anymore?
Also, without the news we wouldn't have Have I Got News For You or Mock the Week, or even The Big Fat Quiz of the Year...
Why thank you Joe. I don't really think as strongly about everything as I might make out, if you are judging my thought process by these blogs.
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