Dumbed down news

Two recent events have made me thing the news media has dumbed down in recent years.

I was on holiday in Koh Samui when Prince William announced he was going to marry Kate Middleton in 2011. Let me state I am happy for William and Catherine. Naturally this piece of news is a delight to hear and I wish them all the happiness in the world.

Yet can I move on after this announcement was finished? No, I couldn't since the media was relentlessly following this gold nugget for the next few days. The only news channel I could receive whilst I was in Koh Samui in my resort was BBC World News. I know the Beeb would report this piece of fact as the priority news bulletin, since it concerned the BRITISH Royal Family. Yet I'm disappointed how they treated this piece of news like a piece of tabloid gossip. Just read out the fact that Prince William and Kate Middleton are going to be married next year and move on.

But the BBC couldn't move on. I think they used every single reporter that was available to cover this story. From the University of St. Andrews, to RAF Anglesey to Kate Middleton's home to Kenya, there was constant speculation and gossip of what essentially what I class as a non-story - it doesn't really have an effect on the normal person and doesn't concern the long-term stability of the world. I'm very disappointed with the BBC News. You would think the BBC News, with its reputation of impartiality and credibility would now stoop so low to cover this story as a major news item. I know it is a piece of good news but really, after the first 24 hours, the Beeb should move on.

(Before you point it out, I know there is an irony of me writing about a non-news story which should be covered as news.)

The other story is Barack Obama getting a split lip in a Thanksgiving basketball game. The same rules apply with this story. It is a non-news story that has no major effect on the world or me.

I honestly think we as a human race have dumbed down enough to consider these two events as news. We should take a bit more interest in politics and economics but instead we are more concerned about celebrity weddings and world leaders getting injured. Doesn't this reflect the times?