REPORTING DEATH

It's sunny in Denmark, hot and dry, the Tour de France is on the television, I am on holiday, and all is well with the world. Yet out in that world, all is not well, as page 8 and 9 of yesterday's newspaper clearly demonstrates. Page 8 discusses the latest twists in the endless conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, with 180 deaths in the last week. Page 9 had small paragraphs on Afghanistan (89 killed by a car bomb), Moscow (21 killed in a metro accident), Ukraine (6 soldiers killed), and Malaysia (18 missing, presumed dead, after a boat capsized).

What is interesting about this is not the statistics themselves, depressing though they are, but the fact that they are relegated to a mere mention on an inside page. Put simply, we are no longer outraged or concerned about death in faraway places. Seeing it up close on television and/or the internet makes us familiar with it. Ultimately, it bores us, which is a sad comment on modern humanity.

So what was the subject of the front page of my newspaper on a random Wednesday in July? Not death; but the need to be on our guard against internet recommendations (of restaurants, books or whatever) that turn out to be false or made up. Now that really is important.

Walter Blotscher