Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Pc Henry

Apologies to all. In the post below I miswrote Pc Henry's name as Pc Terry. This has now been amended.

I had a look at the front pages of the newspapers today, to see which newspapers gave what emphasis to what.

The Sun, Mirror, Express and the Mail (for once, going up in my estimation) all ran with Pc Henry's terrible story on the front page.

Out of the broadsheets, only the Telegraph ran the story.

The Guardian doesn't even mention the story on the front pages, running instead a story focusing on the failings of the police following an "honour" killing conviction. The Independent feels a potential cure for hay fever is more important. I can't recall what the Times showed, but their online edition doesn't have an obvious link, also instead focusing on the same story the guardian does. The BBC have dropped the story from their news site "front page" too.

Anyone with relatives in the forces will be shrugging their shoulders by now, saying "get used to it". I seem to recall that the 150th soldier was recently killed in Iraq. Army fatalities barely get a sidebar these days.

I'm not trying to make any point here, just trying to gauge just how many people care about this kind of thing. Is it just me, or was there an awful lot more coverage for Pc Beshinivsky's equally barbaric demise? Is it because she was shot? Or because she was a she, and newspapers are generally male dominated? I don't know.

Only the Express brought up the question of arming the police. I'll post my thoughts on this another time.