Splatter

Are there any comparisons with how the residents in the South of Thailand were affected by the Tak Bai Incident?

"The BBC's Asia Correspondent, Alastair Leithead, traces the background to the crisis and asks what next for Thailand: is this class war or more about the ambitions of a former prime minister?"

Hmmm. I'm not sure Alistair did the job as described above.

"...in recent years I’ve noticed that “news” is not what’s happened. It’s what’s happened on camera.

If a herd of tigers runs amok in a remote Indian village, it’s not news. If a gang of wide-eyed rebels slaughters the inhabitants of a faraway African village, it’s not news. But if it’s a bit windy in America, it is news. Because in America everything that happens is recorded.

I find myself wondering if last week’s Israeli raid on a Turkish ship in a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza would have had the coverage it did if the battle hadn’t been captured on film. And likewise the racing driver who broke a leg after crashing in the Indy 500. It only became a big deal because we could watch the accident from several angles in slow motion.

In recent months this phenomenon has even spread to the natural world. I mean it. When an animal does something normal, it’s not news. But when it is “caught on camera” doing something normal, then it’s in the Daily Mail. These days, if you snap an owl catching a mouse, you are Robert Capa.

In the end, this can only be good for all of us. Figures out recently show that more people in India have access to a mobile phone than a lavatory. Soon, it will be the same story in China and Africa. And then, when all the world’s being filmed, all of the time, we can go back to a time when news was something interesting rather than something we can simply see. "


full article here...

Please, carry on filming - I'm only burning to death | Jeremy Clarkson - Times Online