Press On

Some thoughts about very recent media coverage:

Last night, Channel 9's Current Affairs was dropped in favour of CNN. Woo-hoo! On the downside, Beaming Sun-Ray Martin is probably flying first class on his way to shoot live-on-location stories where he hands out boxes of headache pills and water to passers-by. If audiences weren't traumatised before, they soon will be.

Later that evening, Auntie was using the live feed from CNN while SBS went with the BBC. Huh? 7, on the other hand, stayed with the cricket.

This morning, the ABC was back to normal kiddie fare, 7 had become Skynet (with frequent apologies to parents about rescheduling Disney), it didn't matter which foreign news show was on SBS - all the stories were about London.

Considering the faces missing from today's morning television, I'm wondering how many TV news personalities are even now winging their way to merrie ol' England to file the mandatory newsclips featuring bloodied survivors and flashing lights. Already, I'm detecting a hint of desperation in recent stories from the street. Reporters are discovering to their disgust that Londoners aren't like the New Yorkers. They aren't running around in circles shrieking "Omigod! Omigod! Omigod! How could this happen to us?" and therefore aren't making good television. Londoners have been bombed before, and worse. Google "London bombing" and the top hits still point to the Blitz.

The Londoners have been hurt, but life goes on, and they're getting on with it. Business as usual. What else is there to do? Call it the legendary British bulldoggedness, stiff upper lip, plain bloody pragmatism, or what you will. It's the sort of common-sense approach that's keeping this real, and annoying the hell out of the sensationalist media. Some idiot MTV-gen journo described it as the worst terrorist attack ever in London. Get off my TV, you loser.

I have faith in the British public, their police and emergency services, and their security agencies to take care of whatever needs to be done. Maybe it's the 2nd generation child-of-the-Empire in me, but seeing the Brits in action - calm, collected, prepared - made me feel vaguely proud that they are a part of my heritage.

The press can run around reporting on each other and making themselves feel important and neccessary as much as they like, but the truth is they've already completed their job. What they should be doing is giving us updates on the situation AS AND WHEN REQUIRED. Instead, all they're doing now is taking up airtime with their hearsay, pointless interviews with experts who have no involvement with what's happening, and endless looped footage of yesterday's news.

Enough.