I have absolutely no interest...

Cressers

This morning both Radio Four and the World Service news led with the announcement that a golfer was taking a sabbatical from his sport in order to repair his private life. I have absolutely no interest in the private lives of others, but no doubt it was an eay headline to lead with, as well as partly obscuring the Tony Blair interview where he admitted that he was hell-bent on invading Iraq, whatever the pretext.

With the final of another 'talent' show due tomorrow I expect that more 'numbskull news' will be forced into 'serious' news bulletins and into our conciousness.

An old Times advert once read "Had you ever wished you were better informed?", the answer these days is Yes...

andyxm

I wouldn't mind but it was the headline news on R4 as well. Surely there is more important stuff going on in the world? I've already been driven away from R5 by their banal presenters and habit of endlessly reading out text messages from listeners.

Cressers

R5 is only worth listening for the footbal commo, what 'news' can be found there oufght to be done for misrepresentation.

verylonglegs

I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice the decline in radio5, I always used to have it on in the background around the house and in the car sometimes but it now spends far too long talking about x-factor and other such nonsense. It really hit home when I turned it on one lunchtime and instead of its usual mid-day news program it was some daft woman who'd called in to say how disappointed she was with this years strictly come dancing line-up :roll: How empty does life have to be when that's your biggest concern?!

nasahapley

This kind of thing really annoys me too. I don't listen to the radio much but whenever I flick the tv on in the morning to try and catch the news what I usually get is analysis of SCD/X-Factor or some sleb plugging their latest book/film. I think the broadsheet newspapers are succumbing too. My usual read is the Guardian (yeah I know), and while it will often have a pop at Heat magazine and celebrity culture in general, it'll still have an article on Amy Winehouse (or another celebrity it's ok for middle class people to like) every other day. I know for a fact that the other broadsheets aren't any better either.

andyxm

Cressers wrote:

R5 is only worth listening for the footbal commo, what 'news' can be found there oufght to be done for misrepresentation.

Even that is marred by the ubertwat Alan Green.

Angus444

Agree with above comments entirely.

In 1990, I began to read the Independent newspaper, on a daily basis. Some excellent writers/commentators, good foriegn coverage, Robert Fisk, etc........then, a few years ago,they changed from broadsheet to tabloid, and started running stories in bite-size chunks...no doubt for those readers who have the attention span of a mouse.

Sad fact is that all this 'celebrity', X-Factor, Big Brother twaddle is what makes the headlines these days in Britain. Speaking to Spanish and French pals, it would appear it's not as common in their countries.

finchy

Time to bring this old thread back to life...

Last night, BBC news, 5 minutes dedicated to which tw*ts had won Strictly Come Dancing. Only 1 hour after the show had announced the winners anyway.

I'm all for a light-hearted item to end the news with, but couldn't they come up with something better than a promotional piece for another BBC show?

bompington

johnfinch wrote:

Time to bring this old thread back to life...

Last night, BBC news, 5 minutes dedicated to which tw*ts had won Strictly Come Dancing. Only 1 hour after the show had announced the winners anyway.

I'm all for a light-hearted item to end the news with, but couldn't they come up with something better than a promotional piece for another BBC show?

Precisely because it's a promotional piece for another BBC show - have you noticed the amount of BBC time that is spent advertising other BBC programmes these days?

Cressers

And don't forget who's the X**s number one. Who gives a s***, but it's all over the 'news' this morning.

teagar

johnfinch wrote:

Time to bring this old thread back to life...

Last night, BBC news, 5 minutes dedicated to which tw*ts had won Strictly Come Dancing. Only 1 hour after the show had announced the winners anyway.

I'm all for a light-hearted item to end the news with, but couldn't they come up with something better than a promotional piece for another BBC show?

The guy who won does actually work for BBC news.

Might have something to do with it!

BBC news has never been the same since the Dr Kelly incident. In fact, the BBC more generally has never been the same since then.

bigmat

I cannot stand the way BBC promotes that dancing carp as "news". I remember John Sargeant was all over the news headlines last year and I was going ballistic - annoying the hell out of my wife who couldn't understand whi I was getting so irate. But its so frustrating when genuine news is put aside in favour of this rubbish. Its like they think they can make the news. You expect it from ITV, but the BBC should be better.

As for the broadsheets, to be fair I was wondering the other day who actually has time to read a broadsheet these days? I don't even have time at the weekend never mind during the week. Might explain the "bite size chunks" articles.

finchy

teagar wrote:

The guy who won does actually work for BBC news.

Might have something to do with it!

I did not know that. But then when you hear the line-ups for these "celebrity" shows, how many of them have you actually heard of?

I thought the whole thing was just BBC news promoting SCD, I didn't realise that the evil conspiracy ran even deeper than that.

passout

Radio 4 is still the best news option out there and the Today programme is very good. On the broadsheets - I still like the Guardian, Independent and Telegraph. I always read a Sunday paper.

I do no what you mean though, we live in an age of pseudo-events which are often linked to celebrity. It won't last in my opinion - nothing ever does.

deptfordmarmoset

Cressers wrote:

And don't forget who's the X**s number one. Who gives a s***, but it's all over the 'news' this morning.

And for mercy's sake, please don't tell me - I've got to 21 December without having any idea who won and I'm hoping I can carry this into the New Year...

teagar

johnfinch wrote:

teagar wrote:

The guy who won does actually work for BBC news.

Might have something to do with it!

I did not know that. But then when you hear the line-ups for these "celebrity" shows, how many of them have you actually heard of?

I thought the whole thing was just BBC news promoting SCD, I didn't realise that the evil conspiracy ran even deeper than that.

Strictly doesn't have celebrity in the title. It's nice to watch amateurs try and dance as well as they can with the guidence of professional dancers. The celebrity bit just makes it a bit more accessible at the start, before the contestants get enough exposure time for you to make up your own opinion based on their selective editing, and their performances.

Can't see too much wrong with bigging up your own show. It's news if plenty of UK millions are interested apparantly.

Explains why Sudan and the Congo get so little coverage.

teagar

passout wrote:

Radio 4 is still the best news option out there and the Today programme is very good. On the broadsheets - I still like the Guardian, Independent and Telegraph. I always read a Sunday paper.

I do no what you mean though, we live in an age of pseudo-events which are often linked to celebrity. It won't last in my opinion - nothing ever does.

Isn't the real problem than an awful lot of 'news' that is reported is actually reporting on public responses to the 'reporting'. It's a big feedback loop.

Take Diana. The story became the public's reaction ot the story, rather than the actual death. Those opinions were in response to the original report, but then, after some media saturation, became the public response to the public response. etc

News is now a news story in its own right. Unfortunately. Hence "outrage at Jan Moir article", etc.