I like 24-hour news. I sometimes watch a lot of it. But there are some things that are just annoying. Sometimes when there’s a bad news day, and they’re desperate for content. Sometimes when something big has broken.
- Journalists posing non-sequiturs to interviewees – drawing a spurious conclusion from a statement. In the recent student demos, for example, when those opposing tuition fees were deemed to support the abuse of the heir to the throne (there’s a whole post waiting to be written on that).
- These dodgy statements are often prefixed with the phrase “some people might say …”. If I was the subject, I’d be tempted to say “Who are they ? Bring them in, so we can all have a laugh”. A really crass attempt to generate “controversy”.
- Political correspondents more interested in showing off how “in the loop” they are, than in reporting the facts. Often trying to push a soap-opera narrative they’ve constructed.
- Generally, a lack of nuance. Politics involves shades of grey – it was described by Bismarck as “the art of the possible”. So compromises have to be made. We don’t always need winners and losers, but we do always need to find the right balance.
- I really get annoyed with charities and pressure groups generating fear as a way of raising funds. And then the newsreader asks something like “has the government done enough ?”.
When have you ever heard a pressure group rep say “Yes, that’s just what we wanted, we can wind up and look for a new job now” ?
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