I had a discussion with an American intern (based in California) whose story is on the front page of The Times this morning. I'll load up an exclusive on that with a picture probably tomorrow. One of the things that came up in our conversation was the stuff that is actually making front page news. Today, on The Times it's Soap star's 'brutal assault on woman'. On the Sowetan, on the front page but not quite headline news, is Nwabisa for movie fame. On CNN the Olympic Torch is top story right now, and on MSNBC - Affidavit: Girls had sex in polygamist temple. It's not the feature story but it's prominent.
What's happening is that news is becoming a mixture of info-tainment and 'what people want to know'. This effectively sidelines and dilutes vital news.
WHAT SHOULD THE HEADLINE NEWS BE AROUND THE WORLD TODAY?
In my humble opinion, simply this: $110. Filling the entire page. I've looked on CNN's website and I can't find a single story about oil. Since this is the driver of an imminent worldwide recession, it's odd that it's being - apparently - purposely ignored.
It's also odd that CNN is imitating SKY News' unique breaking news branding (using yellow and black), and the visual format is very similar to Sky News. CNN just has one small problem - although it looks like SKY News, it is still nowhere near as good, or on the ball.
So here's the story no one wants to read:
Oil Prices Set New Highs Above $110
That was the price of oil yesterday. Oil is shattering records, and shattering lifestyles. It is responsible for fundamental (major fundamental) shifts in lifestyle (whether we choose to or not), work, and business. It's still passing under the radar though, in favour of what soap stars are doing, and the latest movie. It's crazy. But then it's a crazy world, and the human critters are long overdue for a massive wake-up call. We won't need any headlines though to tell us it's happening, we'll be feeling it, like a pinch that gets worse. I wonder if we'll do a collective wake up though?
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