Watching BBC News this morning, and the two presenters are waffling on about Wayne Rooney's wedding for several minutes. At the end, the woman asks, "Do we have any other news?" and the man relies "Nothing as important as that, but a senior intelligence offical has left secret documents on a train..."



It really sums up the state of the country, I think 

Having a spate of early morning waking recently I have started listening to Farming Today....and have enjoyed its informative takes on future world food production, conservation etc....really impressed by the unpretentious, wide ranging editorial style.... Something TODAY has lost .....as each of the presenters and lobby correspondents charge around stirring the bile ....spraying the bile....wiping the bile .....ringing out the bile....only stopping for a few seconds here and there to demonstrate what jolly folk they are....

Bog Off....

Actually I did have to smile a few weeks ago when 2 of the key news items for the week were:

Shock!  Prisoners aren't trying to escape!  Noooo!
Shock!  Polish immigrants are going home!  Noooo!

It was an entertaining swing anyway. 

Here is a review of a book that exposes the origin of much of what passes for news:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/flat-earth-news-by-nick-davies-782274.html

The term that Davies is quoted as using to describe what the media increasingly report - "pseudo-events" - was not invented by him but by the American sociologist and historian Daniel Boorstin.  But the point remains valid - much of what is reported arises from the combination of vigorous and ubiquitous PR and journalism done on the cheap, carried out by people without moral scruple or intellectual curiosity, unwilling or unable to counter the PR puffs they encounter.  In other words, difficult and challenging events happening in unglamorous environments are pushed aside by the slick and the packaged, which, precisely because they are slick and packaged, become the measure of "what the readers want". 

And that's why the BBC, faced with a political environment in which nobody cares about public service broadcasting, and in which it is under constant pressure to cut costs (except, apparently, on celebrity presenters' salaries), moves increasingly towards a tabloid news agenda.

Semi-serious point: might the fact that former viewers of John Craven's Newsround are now adults somehow affect this situation? 

I grew up with Dutch and German television, so every Christmas and Easter I could watch a circus show on TV.

The Tories' record on defending civil liberties isn't much to speak of though, is it? I would see this as more of a cynical attention-grabbing stunt (paid for by public money) to take advantage of Gordon Brown and Labour's current difficulties.