I like to keep up with the news, to hear what’s happening in different parts of the world. Keeping up with current events is one of the things I miss while I’m traveling. From experience, it’s difficult to keep abreast of current affairs in parts of Australia. Their news tends to mostly relate to whatever state you’re in. They don’t think New Zealand news is important. In America, it’s impossible. I’m convinced that the news people don’t know there is a New Zealand or Australia. The only way to learn what’s happening in the world is to tap into the Internet, or at least that’s what we do when we’re visiting the US.
In New Zealand our news coverage is broad in all medias—television, radio and newspaper. I generally know what’s going on in different parts of the world.
Just recently, I’ve noticed a trend, particularly with our television news. They sensationalize everything, in some cases making mountains out of things that are mere hills. Two cases in point.
Like the rest of the world, swine fever has been a big story down here. We had several groups of Auckland students who spent their school holidays in Mexico. They developed symptoms, were isolated fairly quickly on their return to NZ and given treatment. I thought our health ministry handled everything pretty well, the students, their families and others who were showing symptoms were put in isolation and monitored closely.
We’ve been lucky in New Zealand since we haven’t had any deaths and everyone has recovered. Anyone listening to the news coverage after the story broke would have thought all the students were a gasp away from death and the pandemic would be halfway across Auckland by the next day. Despite officials coming out with strong statements, telling of their progress and what they intended to do, the news coverage was scaremongering, plain and simple. I wasn’t the only one who thought so.
The second thing that happened was a shooting. A policeman was killed and others injured by a gunman who holed up in his house. The armed defenders were out, neighbors were evacuated and the press went overboard. Yes, it was a serious situation, but several of the things the press reported during the day were incorrect. I can see that news is big business these days. It’s a race to see who can get stories out to the public first, but it would make me happier if the gloom and doom reports were reserved for matters where the world really was going to end.
Lately I’ve been watching the headlines and leaving it at that. I don’t need to listen to the scaremongering from our reporters.
How do you keep up with the news? If you live in Australia or the US, am I being unfair about your parochial news coverage? Do you think, like me, that sometimes the news coverage is heavy on the scaremongering? What say you about news?
Look for the blog participation winner announcement later today. Oh, my newsletter contest winner announcement as well. I ran out of time today, but on the plus side, my website is looking more up to date. Check out my new covers for Make That Man Mine and Lynx to the Pharaoh plus details and an excerpt for CatNap, the next story in my Middlemarch series. I also have a new free short story for you to download.
