junkies

The British are news junkies. Is it fear of boredom? Something needs to be going on 'out there' and the more portentous or disgraceful it is the better. We can then lock the door, hide under the blanket and revel in our personal safety and innocence. We need news, even if it is only about a change in the weather - anything to up the tempo and help us to feel that life is happening. News should be 'new, true and interesting'. But can we rely on news makers, reporters and presenters being trustworthy? Does what we hear and read comply with all three of those criteria? A meeting to discuss this is to be held by Progressive Christianity Stoke on Sunday evening September 4 (7.15 at the Congregational Church Newcastle under Lyme.) There is a limit to the amount of good news that we can take. News of conflicts being settled and ended is less compelling than news of conflict starting and continuing. We feed on the exploits of baddies; Bill Sykes is much more interesting than Oliver Twist. How reliable is the media that feeds us every day? We are aghast at the way phones have been hacked to tease out private information, but salivate at what the likes of the News of the World was then able to reveal 'exclusively'. We think we have a right to personal privacy, but gloat over personal information about other people offered in the lurid press. How far shoud the media go to discover and expose the foibles of the famous? As newspaper sales decline and most people now get their news from TV and electronic gadgets will news reports become less reliable? Does it matter? Is society now being managed on sensational half-truths and lies? How much anyway do we really 'need' to know? It's worth discussing.