IF IT BLEEDS IT LEADS

When I first heard those words I thought, "morbid much?" Now, after nine weeks as a journalism student who religiously reads the newspaper, I can't help but agree. 


Here are some of the stories my local paper, The Queensland Times, have been leading with - 

Dinmore man stabbed twice

http://www.qt.com.au/story/2012/05/05/dinmore-man-stabbed-twice/

Motorcyclist dies in crash

http://www.qt.com.au/story/2012/05/03/lower-part-leg-severed-crash/

Pedestrian killed at Bowen Hills

http://www.qt.com.au/story/2012/05/04/pedestrian-killed-bowen-hills/

Tourists killed in motorway tragedy

http://www.qt.com.au/story/2012/05/06/two-men-die-coolum-rollover/


And the big news story recently, the murder of an Ipswich Girls' Grammar School old-girl, and mother of three, Allison Baden-Clay. 

New findings in murder mystery

http://www.qt.com.au/story/2012/05/03/police-find-suspected-drag-marks-near-creek/


It's scary, isn't it? 


Today, we as a society, have become so desensitised to blood and murder. It's not just our front page news, it's the death of a mother, brother, father or daughter. And yet we read it, absorbed in the story and then go back to our lives. The people in these stories, their lives are forever altered, but to us it's a quick read after finishing dinner or on the morning train. We read, become absorbed, then forget. At least until tomorrow's paper. 


I wonder how the people involved in the story think about newspapers. Do they read them after the incident which caused them to become front page news? Or do they avoid newspapers, because they can't bear to read about the new unfortunate soul?


This lecture really made me think about the news and the stories that lead in today's society.