12.12.05
Staying out of the way
Picture from itv.com
I am about to blow my cover, if of course I have one to blow. I work in the vicinity of the petrol depot which blew up and caught fire yesterday and it seems pertinent to talk about the way we deal with such events in this country. The emergency, local council and health services emergency action plans were obviously put into place. The press pretty much seem to have arrived on scene at the same time as any fire engine or ambulance, and if you believe everything you hear from them then the whole county is engulfed in acrid smoke. So much so that every school in a 10 mile radius was closed today and most people were unable to get into work.
Imagine my surprise then when I drove past the site on the M1 that although the black smoke looked and smelt pretty awful, it wasn’t covering the entire sky, but the smoke and flames erupting from the tanks looked all the more dramatic because of the way they contrasted against the surrounding blue sky. Disruption in the local area seems to have been much less than we were led to believe and the authorities seem to have closed schools outside the immediate area unnecessarily. This is in no way meant to make light of the obviously frightening experience of local residents who have suffered damage to their houses and who will continue to experience smoke pollution. But I have the feeling that the TV media love nothing more than the drama of a story like this.
Luckily I didn’t really need to go into the office today, but I now know that if I had wanted or needed to I could, and that really is not the message which was portrayed to us by those who are meant to be giving us information rather than scaring us more than necessary.
HypnoKitten said,
December 12, 2005 at 6:50 pm
Sounds like your loval news is starting to resemble the U.S. news a little too closely. It seems all they do here is try and put things in the scariest possible terms. If I recall correctly, it was the movie Bowling for Columbine that taught me that. Really interesting stuff in that movie, although some people aren’t big fans of Michael Moore I think it made an important statement about how our news is delivered to us.
Kim said,
December 12, 2005 at 9:24 pm
The coverage was no less intense over here! I thought a bomb had been dropped the way the news channels were talking…glad to know that you weren’t affected and I hope those who were have their lives back to normal soon.
maria said,
December 12, 2005 at 10:44 pm
I have to agree. The media loves
nothing more than “bad news”.
You see, “good news” don’t SELL.
It is the same here in Canada.
Hope everyone will be all right.
Marie