In Tasmania, I've been exposed to the joy that is a regional newspaper. The guilty party in question for today's disgrace is a publication known as "The Examiner", known more commonly among locals by the endearing term "The Exaggerator".
At least half the paper is dominated by a mixture of sport (the majority of which is AFL - Australian Football League, for those who don't know) and local news like car parking or someone's pet dog barking and rescuing the neighbours from a house fire. No, this is not a joke.
The "World News" section is typically one or two pages, at least half of which is occupied by an advertisement for a local or national company. While this is bad enough, many of the stories are the sort of "light-hearted" stories one might find in the "oddity" section of any other media, focussing on escaped animals or strange occurrences rather than meaty issues such as ongoing conflicts, a world financial crisis, or international politics.
Today's glaring offence was in regards to the dreadful bombing of the Marriot Hotel in Pakistan.. While this event was given an entire two page spread (minus the ridiculously large advertisements, of course) the reporting was still terrible. After a brief discussion of the event, one article changed its focus completely, instead devoting a not insigificant percentage of its allotted space to start reporting on the tragedy's relevance... to cricket. Apparently the concern over the effect that this will have on cricket in Pakistan and what now seems like a prudent decision to not tour in the country is far greater than the concern over the loss of life that has occurred.
Oh, woe is me.
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