“Getting”??!?
A topic title seen on the Trekweb message boards:
Why is Battlestar Galactica getting so political…
Um…wow. I can only assume that before last week’s season premiere, the last Battlestar Galactica that guy had seen was in 1979. 😆 😯
I was saddened to see the news this week that Outpost Gallifrey is bringing an end to regular news page updates, citing a lack of manpower to keep up with the huge amount of news about both the new TV series and its army of spinoff properties in other media. I have nothing but good things to say about Shaun Lyon, the webmaster and editor of Outpost Gallifrey, and the stellar job he’s done with keeping up with the daunting load of keeping up with all of that stuff. (I’d much rather have the problem of too much news to sift through than the opposite.) However, when sites like Trekweb and theForce.net have taken on staff members to keep up with specific kinds of news without burdening any one person to breaking point, I really have to wonder if the BBC didn’t quietly ask Shaun to step back so they could become the go-to web destination for Doctor Who news. I hope that’s not the case; the end of Shaun’s news page means the end of equal time for Big Finish audio productions and books, Magic Bullet audios, books by Telos or Mad Norwegian Press, and announcements of countless conventions, get-togethers and fan-organized charity events that just don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of making it onto the BBC’s Doctor Who news page because they’re not directly tied in to the new show. I hope the BBC can see it in their heart to either start a separate news page in their “classic series” section for their licensees who are keeping the classic franchise alive, or loosen up their restrictions on what’s “newsworthy.”
Or maybe they should hire Shaun Lyon to run their news page for them.
Speaking of news, since the two tragic incidents that brought school violence back into the national spotlight recently, we’ve had a rash of scares in this area. And every last single damned one of them has made the news. I don’t know if we’re dealing with jumpy school officials, kids with a sick sense of humor, kids whose dark sides are seeing an avenue for expression, or a vulture mentality among the local news media, or a combination of all of the above, but today, our station covered two threats/incidents at two different schools, with an actual shooting in Joplin.
Now, I have to wonder: if we laid off the coverage, would there suddenly be a drop in the number of incidents? I’m not saying it would solve all of the school violence woes across the country, but by God, if the wanna-bes stopped seeing every incident get wall-to-wall coverage and recaps in the news for days afterward, maybe they might decide to reformat their cries for attention into something less destructive if they aren’t assured that they’ll get the attention they crave by lashing out. I understand there’s an obligation to inform the public, but let’s temper that with an understanding that what we put on the air does have an affect on the people who see it – sometimes with frightening consequences.
I lose sleep over this stuff. I’m not sure my management does – think of the ratings! I look forward to the end of my involvement with the news business.… Read more
