Alternative News Blogging?

Real news became ancillary news this weekend.

I will not engage with my usual effort to avoid naming certain events with the thought that they have garnered enough attention and do not need my own. Instead, I wish to name and shame the royal wedding in the UK this weekend and how certain news outlets dealt with the event. Throughout this post I do not wish to dampen the joy and fun that people gained from the event. If UK citizens wish to celebrate this wedding they are within their full rights to do so and it is always a good thing to see a country unified in joy.

It is not, however, acceptable for this particular news story to absolutely block out the rest of the world. One site in particular caused me a great deal of frustration. This site frequently live blogs on certain events. I have often left their live blog on middle eastern politics open in the last few weeks as it is both informative and updated frequently. On Friday, however, there was a blog devoted to everything that was not royal wedding related. I skimmed through this blog and found entries on Libya, riots in Bristol and other big events happening throughout the world. It was, in short, a blog of the news.

When did the news become the secondary factor of a news website?! The media itself has been quick to point out that this wedding was a massive reality television show on a huge stage. Yet surely with this self-awareness, these outlets need to consciously address the balance when relating news. If people wish to submerge themselves in royal wedding 'news' for the whole day then a royal wedding live blog would have been a brilliant way to do it and would have allowed people nonplussed by the whole affair to equally, avoid it.

Allowing oneself respite from the harrowing events of the world is understandable but that should not lead to a wider ignorance of the world.

-The English Student

College Newspapers

Does frighteningly alarmist journalism begin at a collegial level?

My university has two main newspapers that are freely distributed across campus. One of these papers seems to have a degree of real engagement with college life, the other however, is ridiculously removed from all concepts of reality. In fact, many people are beginning to wonder if any semblance of journalistic integrity can be found at all.

Unlike any writer for this paper, I am actually going to qualify this extreme opinion. Upon opening the last two editions of this paper, it becomes quite obvious that they have an intention to perpetuate alarmist rumours that only serve to create an idea of the evil, homosexual, foreign terrorist. It seems that we are always seconds from disaster and that these people are just biding their time before tearing down society around us. Of course, these insidious rumours are hardly put out in the open, but are subtly referenced in articles through tone and language in order to implant ideas unnoticed.

Perhaps I am being too harsh on a newspaper that was initially set up to counter their university sponsored adversary. In fact, the paper does have some interesting pop culture sections in every edition. But there is a very good reason that the Student's Union recently stopped funding this paper, such "journalism" only creates enmity and fear where we need unity and courage.

I do not call for censorship of such papers, just wisdom on the part of their readers.

-The English Student