noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
Has everyone in the UK actually gone blade wielding bonkers or has the mysterious media zeitgeist decided that knife crime is this months theme?
Of course, but it's very very sudden. In terms of reporting it's not a trend, it's a spike (yes, I know). And you get this with various memes from time to time. I think to an extent it's a question of focus. News outlets must only pass on a tiny amount of what they are presented with, it's a selective filtering process.It's important not to ignore the possibility that we're hearing more about stabbings in the press because more stabbings are actually happening.
And they've arrested her grandson. Maybe there is a link though, success in tackling the availability of guns means more knives?Also, I can't help but think there's a terrible irony in the stabbing of that anti-gun campaigner. Moral of the story: try and avoid being a grandma at 33.
Of course, but it's very very sudden. In terms of reporting it's not a trend, it's a spike (yes, I know). And you get this with various memes from time to time. I think to an extent it's a question of focus. News outlets must only pass on a tiny amount of what they are presented with, it's a selective filtering process.
And they've arrested her grandson. Maybe there is a link though, success in tackling the availability of guns means more knives?
Right. so that's actual figures? That's the question I'm asking. So the answer is yes, everyone in the UK has gone blade wielding bonkaz.Yes, and I appreciate that, but last year the number of under-18s murdered in London was up more than 50% on 2006, and this year looks to be going the same way.
I think there are such things as news fads. Certain themes get trendy for a while, it's hard to fathom exactly why mostly but I think it's interesting to chart it.it's quite frustrating to talk to people who seem to think the wicked meedja are basically inventing murder stories
Yes, I think there has been a real increase in the absolute number of cases of this sort, and it's quite frustrating to talk to people who seem to think the wicked meedja are basically inventing murder stories.
It is equally frustrating to talk to people who seem to think that, out of the millions of events that occur each day, what appears in news articles is somehow naturally more important or relevant than what did not make it into print.
I think there are such things as news fads. Certain themes get trendy for a while, it's hard to fathom exactly why mostly but I think it's interesting to chart it.
Is that the same as suggesting that some evil cartel is inventing stories?
A lot of things happen in a city each day and most of them do not make the national news, that means that there is a lot of scope for filtration. Editors will inevitably be guided by the prevailing political / cultural climate. What was important one season may not warrant a mention the next. There's no suggestion of nefarious action.
Your point being? There's a reason I don't get into the national papers when I cut myself shaving, whereas a 16-year-old being stabbed to death in a suburban street does. Some things ARE more important than others. I'd have thought this was pretty self-evident to anyone more than, ooh, a day or so old.
Well, yes. But it's also pretty self-evident to anyone who's looked at the way the news media work that some stories are made to be more important than others for reasons other than, say, the 'public good'. The possibility of news fads, or certain issues being given more prominence than the bald facts would warrant, is there.
Your point being? There's a reason I don't get into the national papers when I cut myself shaving, whereas a 16-year-old being stabbed to death in a suburban street does. Some things ARE more important than others. I'd have thought this was pretty self-evident to anyone more than, ooh, a day or so old.
Here's a case in point. A bouncer was stabbed outside a club in Brighton last week. As far as I know this did not make the national press but you can bet that if garage/grime was high on the agenda as it has been at other times then it would have been more widely reported.
http://theargus.co.uk/mostpopular.var.2298534.mostcommented.concorde_2_bouncer_stabbed_in_back.php
Heh. I think ripley is bang on with that post, it's very clear.im not convinced ripley and gavin are human beings, they;re just random academese generators...
You think it wouldn't have got national attention? I think there have been moments where 'garage music' was the big media bugbear though. Just as an example of how focus works.no it probably wouldn't - it would have been picked up by this board more easily though.
Different thing.
Yes it's bad. But I ask the question because it seems to me there's more knife action in the news than just to do with kids. It's a more general trend. I think you're right in your other post, it's a bit of both - real things happening and also media fixation.i think a massive growth in the number of kids dying from knife wounds - which is what most people and news stories across all the press are concerned about is certainly something that it's worth reporting and bringing up in papers as it's a terrible terrible thing.