The state of the news
I've just come back from doing some jobs down the street. While I was out, I stopped in at a cafe for a quick lunch, and browsed through the local newspaper as I ate.
I remember now why I've pretty much given up reading The West Australian. To grossly summarise (because seriously, I can't cope with another meta post with dozens of wonderful, thinky replies this week), here are just two of the articles that enraged me:
Page one: The news that taxpayers will pay for the recent election, held so that taxpayers can elect their governing representatives.
Shocker! The most infuriating thing about this story was that there actually was a real story about a complex issue buried inside the sensationalist and simplistic beat-up.
Page three or four (I didn't check the number, but it was a few flips in): The news that the most recent prediction on the upcoming global warming tipping point is already out of date, as just-released figures mean scientists have updated the update. It's now predicted to happen in 2030, but as no nations are scaling back yet, it's likely that update will also be redundant very shortly.
*resigned but real shock* So there's a pretty good chance we'll all be screwed in 10 or 15 years? Awesome. Not.
To recap: On page three we have an update on the end of the world. On page one we have a non-story about tax.
My verdict: Epic, epic fail, West Australian. Please return your journalism degrees to the Wheaties boxes in which you found them.
I remember now why I've pretty much given up reading The West Australian. To grossly summarise (because seriously, I can't cope with another meta post with dozens of wonderful, thinky replies this week), here are just two of the articles that enraged me:
Page one: The news that taxpayers will pay for the recent election, held so that taxpayers can elect their governing representatives.
Shocker! The most infuriating thing about this story was that there actually was a real story about a complex issue buried inside the sensationalist and simplistic beat-up.
Page three or four (I didn't check the number, but it was a few flips in): The news that the most recent prediction on the upcoming global warming tipping point is already out of date, as just-released figures mean scientists have updated the update. It's now predicted to happen in 2030, but as no nations are scaling back yet, it's likely that update will also be redundant very shortly.
*resigned but real shock* So there's a pretty good chance we'll all be screwed in 10 or 15 years? Awesome. Not.
To recap: On page three we have an update on the end of the world. On page one we have a non-story about tax.
My verdict: Epic, epic fail, West Australian. Please return your journalism degrees to the Wheaties boxes in which you found them.