Irritating Journalism (cont.)
Jan. 6th, 2007 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhythmaningBBC radio news keeps going on about the director of the UK prison service doesn't know how many prisoners who abscond are recaptured.
He rightly has pointed out that it isn't his job to catch prisoners who run away. It is his job to stop them running away - and he knows exactly how many do that. (It was about 700 over twelve months; I have no idea if this is a lot or not - although with a prison population of nearly 80,000, less than 1% doesn't sound too bad; although they are likely to be from open prisons, it might be less good than first appears.)
What annoys me is that the journalists at the BBC have decided that this is the most important thing going on in the world today. It has been top of their news bulletins - when in fact it isn't really news at all. The headline could be rewritten "man doesn't know something he doesn't need to know."
The way the media pander to the lock-'em-up-and-flog-'em vocal minority. 80,000 people in prison is an awful lot: the prisons are near capacity.
When Tony Blair was first elected ten years ago, one of his many soundbites was "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime". It is a shame he only kept the first half of his promise.
He rightly has pointed out that it isn't his job to catch prisoners who run away. It is his job to stop them running away - and he knows exactly how many do that. (It was about 700 over twelve months; I have no idea if this is a lot or not - although with a prison population of nearly 80,000, less than 1% doesn't sound too bad; although they are likely to be from open prisons, it might be less good than first appears.)
What annoys me is that the journalists at the BBC have decided that this is the most important thing going on in the world today. It has been top of their news bulletins - when in fact it isn't really news at all. The headline could be rewritten "man doesn't know something he doesn't need to know."
The way the media pander to the lock-'em-up-and-flog-'em vocal minority. 80,000 people in prison is an awful lot: the prisons are near capacity.
When Tony Blair was first elected ten years ago, one of his many soundbites was "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime". It is a shame he only kept the first half of his promise.