Yeah, the Prang in Kerang was shouse for all concerned, as are most* major accidents, but don't the Herald Sun give these things the treatment, with pages one through eleven going, err, full throttle on the story.
The front page is the picture above: Torn Apart. Page three covers the scale: Worst train crash in half a century. Pages four & five talk up a local bumpkin: Hero could see it unfolding. Page seven has the survivors: We walked away. Page nine has the emergency services: Race to the rescue. Page ten has the government: State pays respects. Page eleven has the diagram: Anatomy of a tragedy. Only page two has another story - in this case Fat Tony Mokbel - while pages six and eight have full page ads for booze (appropriately?) and kitchenware (shelves can-opener joke).
How much coverage is enough when we already know what's happened? We've heard the radio, seen the telly, picked up this-and-that off the internet. Doubtless the papers would say it's in the public interest, or some such spin that could just as easily be applied to Paris Hilton; and to be fair, the Hun prides itself on being a big seller, so they probably know what they're on about. So who, exactly, is reading all this stuff? Not me. When it comes to stories like this, I automatically flick to the opinion pages, the sport and the crossword, barely acknowledging the existence of the hot issues-du-jour. Well, except today when I'm obviously making a point, of sorts.
* Most? Offhand I can't think of any "major accidents" that aren't shouse, but I'm sure there's at least one.
RUG BARON #
If anything, the mass coverage tends to diminish these events.
Posted by: 13th Man | 06 June 2007 at 12:41
I'd say I was over these things, that they're diminished, or that I'm desensitised, but I've never much been a follower of 'big stories'.
Is it chicken and egg thing? Big news make big story or big story makes big news?
Posted by: Tony T. | 06 June 2007 at 13:07
How much coverage is enough when we already know what's happened?
Sports journalism, anyone?
Posted by: boynton | 06 June 2007 at 13:09
Boynton! How could you?!?
Posted by: Tony T. | 06 June 2007 at 13:14
Good call B. This is the same Herald Sun that can run a full week's coverage on a single free kick, or one unattractive game beset by flooding.
The one I liked best was the week of the Selwood-Headland thing. It was on the front every day, oh, except that one day when the Asian kid in Virginia went troppo with the guns. Following day it was back to Head-wood (and the gunman was the off lead).
Posted by: Gareth | 06 June 2007 at 23:40
Another thing I've noticed, since you brought it up Tony. The Age goes with the blanket coverage stuff too, but only on global warming. Every day.
Posted by: Gareth | 06 June 2007 at 23:42
9 pages on a train crash? Pfeh, as redundancy goes, that's nothing as far as redundancy goes. You've obviously never experienced Peter Peters overanalysing Rugby League on the radio for 2 hours a day on weekday mornings before commentating the matches on weekends.
Posted by: Clem Snide | 07 June 2007 at 00:44
But, but, but ... it's sport. SPORT!
Posted by: Tony T. | 07 June 2007 at 08:17
Of course the fatalities were awful for everybody ... and next time we glaze over the continual reports from the northern hemisphere of bus bomb blasts killing 85 or 130 or 32 ...
I have just left Leftys blog where a May 30th post about "How long would you sit at a malfunctioning red light before proceeding against it?" has many commentors claiming they go through red lights when they judge it fit; so none of those criticised that truckdriver from their Laz-E-Boys.
Posted by: Bwca | 07 June 2007 at 21:34
... and Fat Tonys girlfriend needs psychiatric reprogramming. Anyone know if The Brat is named Dhakhotah ?
Posted by: Bwca | 07 June 2007 at 21:36
Variations on Dhakhotah are taken. As are Montana (Barbaro) and Indiana (Capper). Doubtless there's a California somewhere, Carolina obviously and Virginia, possibly a Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Rhode Island Red is Foghorn Leghorn's cousin and Tennessee makes up this gross menagerie.
They are probably running out of "nearly-but-not-really" passable names despite there being loads of states left. North Carolina North would make me laugh. But when I meet Massachusetts Smith, I'll know this thing has gone too far.
New York Jones, anyone?
Posted by: Tony.T | 08 June 2007 at 19:40
I was in Athens when they nabbed Tony the Wig there. All I can add to the story is that they bagged him in the Greek version of some St Kilda bar. And you wouldn't want to sport bad hair there either.
Posted by: Nabakov | 13 June 2007 at 08:40
I was actually in Tokyo when there was supposed to be some sort of Yakuza show down, but it was a bloody disappointment, nothing happened at all!
Posted by: TimT | 13 June 2007 at 09:44
oh mon! Two mon of Athens.
or
Where were YOU when Tony the Wig was nabbed?
I was in UR pooter watching The Sopranos?
I was in Kerang racing a train?
I was in The newsroom adding a supplement to the coverage?
Posted by: Bwca | 13 June 2007 at 22:41
"I was in the torlet loo-sing my phone."
Posted by: Tony.T | 14 June 2007 at 21:42