A news story from your past that had a big influence on your life is… Even though it is the obvious answer I feel that I have to say the 9/11 attacks in America. The reason being that I, literally, watched the thing from its shocking beginning to horrible end. I had just made lunch for myself and was flicking through the Irish stations when Anthony Murnane (an Irish newscaster) came on screen with a hastily put together news bulletin. It was like he had literally been thrown in front of the camera and broke the news of how a plane had crashed into the WTC. As I sat and watched the tower burning I got to feeling that it couldn’t have been an accident considering how clear a day it was. Then my mum joined me and we saw a second plane go across the screen from the left and hit the other tower. I’ve never seen something that shocking that I had such a sense of seperation from. Could this really be happening? People will be trapped and dying in those buildings. 🙁 I couldn’t get over it. We sat and watched the news coverage for about 3 hours afterwards in abject shock.
A news story that you wish would go away so you never have to hear about it again is… I get depressed when I see the coverage on the news of Iraq. People are dying there everyday and the vast majority of Americans are still convinced that waging the war was the right thing to do. They’ve completely destabalised the country and the region. Even if you have elections, it doesn’t magically solve the countries problems and the fact that the US has no idea of how to deal with a Muslim country and culture. The whole thing is a disaster area and I wish the US would learn from such actions although I’m 90% sure they’ll make the same mistake again somewhere else.
A news story that you feel deserves much more attention than it has been getting lately is… I have to echo Dave’s thoughts on this. The news story which does not get enough attention is that of Africa. As a continent they have some major problems. The G8 countries are meeting next month but even Bob Geldof is expecting a “glorious failure”. What does that say about the world’s leaders? That they won’t listen to the starving millions in Africa and the ordinary citizens attempting to weigh up lives against gold reserves? They won’t listen to the starving millions cos they’re far enough away not to hear them and “ordinary citizens” mean nothing to politicians.
FQ REPORTER: Look into the future and create a headline for an interesting news story that hasn’t happened yet… TONY SCORES SCORCHER IN WORLD CUP FINAL TO GIVE IRELAND 2-1 VICTORY….SHOCKER 🙂