But what can they do?
No seriously, what can news outlets do, what should they do in a time where bad, terrible and horrifying news abound? I mean serious shows that at least seem to be trying to report real news, such as the tagesschau, the main news programme on one of two public broadcasters in Germany. Here’s what they presented two days ago, one right after the other:
Reporting on the floods in Pakistan and Afghanistan, over 1,000 people dead so far, children in particular suffering horrendously due to the shortage of clean drinking water.
Followed immediately by this:
Audi is joining the Formula 1 racing business. That should be Business as in Big Business for Big Bucks. The effing car industry, which bears a huge responsibility for the mess this planet is in, keeps pumping more and more emissions – in this case, entirely pointless emissions – into our atmosphere.
This is wrong, wrong, fucking wrong. Audi should be taking the money they are investing here and put half into developing e- or h-vehicles, the other half into climate disaster relief funds.
But apart from the actual facts of this news item, the way it was presented really hit me. Thousands die, children suffer, and a corporation extend its mega bucks business which is at the root of the children's suffering. One item just as newsworthy as the other, one presented just the same way as the other, without batting an eyelid.
Okay, so the news is supposed to be neutral. One can argue that in the day and age of so much fake and biased news, it is more important than ever that reporting remains factual.
But the newscaster could have been decent enough to put a tear in his eye, as the Jack Johnson song goes. Or perhaps just pause. If I was writing a script for this, I’d have him pause, look into the camera for two seconds while the Audi picture was already up behind him, and then continue reading. In a fictional story, I would have him express an opinion.
And there’s the dilemma. How would that then be better than anything shown on Fox News? Is subtle bias any better than blatant one?
I have an idea: just don’t report this at all. Who the F cares that Audi joins F1? Vested interests and perhaps a fan community that can get their news elsewhere. The way it was done here was simply WRONG.