Watching ITV News last night, I was struck by something. Not how ridiculous the ITV News studio looks or how a half-hour news programme could possibly have time to convey the whole story of every significant event that occurred on the day in question (this is why we still need online newspapers to succeed by the way).
No, I was struck by something else; the pure abstract nature of ‘news’ and how little what constitutes news directly affects the average person. For example, the political wrangling between the Democrats and Republicans in the American Senate over how best to combat the country’s debt. To the man on the street, this has nothing to do with him, why should he care or pay attention?
It probably contributes to the general apathy of people and their lack of engagement in the system. If there is not a direct impact on you, why should you care? It’s all about self-preservation and looking after one. Everything else is for others to worry about.
So, here is my solution. With every news broadcast, there should be a “how will this affect you” option, accessible through the yellow button on your remote. Here, each news story is dissected by experts for your benefit where they explain the impact the event has on you as an individual.
The US debt crisis? The US is the world’s biggest economy and, should it fail or fall back into recession, the rest of the world will suffer. This may lead to further economic problems in the UK which may affect your ability to find a new job, buy a new iPhone, go on three holidays a year and so on.
A child has gone missing in some provincial Northern town? No direct impact upon you, apart from a tug on the heartstrings, as you do not know this child. However, an indirect impact is that you will become more suspicious of strangers and not allow your child to play outside as they will be out of your sight which may lead to your child getting less exercise which may result in health problems for them and a fear of society for you.
The ongoing conflict in Libya? NATO’s involvement here means Britain has a vested interest in the outcome of the conflict as too much money has been put in to pull out now. Furthermore, the outcome will impact upon the oil industry in the region and just who gets that oil. Should the rebels win, you can bet your last petro-dollar that the NATO nations will have some Pro-Western oil contracts written up for Libyan oil. The benefits of these oil contracts will mean that petrol prices will not rise considerably giving you more money to spend on cars and vodka in the medium term at the price of short term monetary investment supporting the Libyans.
And so on with every news story. Perhaps it would not be cost effective but you could offset this by not doing the breakdowns into specific social groups rather than individuals but, you never know, it might get people interested in the news again.
Either that, or some kind of phone app is the solution. Angry Gaddafis or something.
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