Chaos And Fury As The Tube Strike Bites
ANOTHER Tube strike. But what does it mean in the Press? Rick Jacobs investigates:
This morning I had an inspriation – I was going to conduct an experiment. A 72-hour Tube strike started last night, shutting down three-quarters of the system. At moments like this, the press goes crazy, warning of absolute Satanic mayhem and a complete and utter breakdown of society as a whole. In reality, some tempers are frayed, but people wait patiently for buses and other transport to take them somewhere. They also, as a whole, prepare for the strike by leaving early and sorting things out if they get to work late.
So as usual the press became hysterical. I decided to see how extreme they were going to twist the fact someone is actually protesting something in this country. Each appearance of the word ‘CHAOS’ was going to get a rating based on three categories.
1. Where the article about the Tube strike appears in the publication – so 10 points for the front page, 9 points for page 2, eight points – page 3 etc.
2. Where the word CHAOS is mentioned in the headline – 10 points for the first word, 9 for the second word etc
3. Where the word CHAOS is mentioned in the article – 10 points for the first sentence, 5 for the second sentence.I was spoiled for choice today…
So the winner today? Shockingly, the Financial Times. Those worry warts!!! No one else had it on the front page – and by this evening, the Standard, the London Lite and thelondonpaper were big with the word ‘FURY’ – I guess once they saw there was no chaos, they had to change tact and describe the fights they witnessed due to the assumed chaos they were trying to stir up.
Read it all here.
Posted: 5th, September 2007 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
