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Charlie Beckett

March 12th, 2007

Reporting Risk

1 comment

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Charlie Beckett

March 12th, 2007

Reporting Risk

1 comment

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Two gruesome stories caught my morbid eye today. Two Britons have died while cross-country ski-ing in Norway. A risky thing to do but it made a dramatic story because one of the party was rescued thanks to a complete fluke. Ski-ing, of course, is responsible for an epidemic of injuries and deaths that must cost the NHS a fortune.
The other story was of the death of a recreational diver in a quarry that has claimed 20 lives in as many years. Anything else that had killed that many people in such a period would have been banned, shut down and made illegal long ago.
Compare that to the days of outrage and investigation that followed the recent Cumbrian train crash in which one unfortunate old lady perished. No doubt, millions will be spent to make sure ‘it can never happen again.’
I know all the arguments why one story makes headlines and another is down page but there are consequences. Look at how MMR took off from a minor theoretical scare story into a national panic.
POLIS is planning an event looking at Reporting Risk – get in touch if you are interested.

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Charlie Beckett

Posted In: Journalism

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