the corner office

The Suffolk murders have gripped the country. Scary stuff. The whole affair, as it unfolds, simply reaffirms my cynicism when it comes to mass media. Vapid talking heads doing their best to milk the fsck out of what's happened. You know what their bosses are telling them: talk talk talk and then talk some more, no matter what meaningless drivel you're spouting. Try to sensationalise everything, and if that means obsessing over pointless bloody minutae until something new happens, then do it. Just keep people glued to the TV.

If the inanity isn't enough, there's the constant drive to invent crisis and whip up hostility towards the police. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen a reporter climb down a copper's throat because Suffolk's police force is too small, too incompetent, too hesitant to guarantee that nothing bad will happen again. If these people really cared about the killer being caught, then maybe they should leave the cops to do their bloody jobs instead of wasting their time and ours with stupid questions, veiled accusations and piss-poor attempts to whip up outrage.

Dear news people: please just report the news, communicate the facts, then STFU.