Saturday, July 25, 2009

A quiet news summer?

Another perspective of whether the media are contributing to the mass hysteria over Swine Flu is given by Robin Lustig of BBC Radio 4's World Tonight.

Robin has a theory

we live in a complex, confusing, technologically-challenging world. We are never quite sure how fresh is the food that we eat or how pure is the air that we breathe. We lie awake at night and worry: do I know enough, understand enough, to make the right decisions for myself and my family?
We scour the newspapers and sit glued in front of the TV or radio, hoping to learn something that will help us understand. Should I be eating more eggs, or fewer? Should my children drink more fruit juice, or less?


He has a point but how much greater confusion is there from sitting in front of the TV or picking up the papers?

This week has seen an across the board gloomy picture being portrayed across both the tabloids and the broadsheets backed up by a poor government PR performance.

I suppose that the media has so far had a good summer in what is normally a quiet period,MP's expenses,Michael Jackson and Swine Flu,so much so that they have been able to largely ignore Big Brother.

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