Tragedy?... Not so sure.

In the last week or so we have been entranced by the news and its coverage of the submarine accident that claimed the lives of the 5 people on-board.

Was I the only one who didn’t really care that much?

Let me be clear, a loss of life is always tragic, there is no arguing that. Someone was alive and breathing on the surface of this planet, and now they’re not. Families, relatives, and loved ones will mourn their loss and that life will be remembered.

What I am talking about here is simply how this incident, which is relatively minute in the grand scheme of things, somehow became a talking point globally. It might seem crass saying that, but it is the truth... 5 people dying in a submarine is miniscule when compared to the thousands that die each day around the world, so news of this incident should not have been as widespread as it was.

Please do not misunderstand, I am not comparing tragedies here, or prioritising lives because, as I said earlier, each life is definitely precious to somebody. What I am focussing on here is how the news went about covering this, and why.

Was it not a little over a month ago that the news was covering civil war in Sudan where hundreds of people lost their lives? Again, not comparing, but the contrast of where the focus is now is staggering to say the least.

I am writing this from a point of view of an average person, like myself, who doesn’t watch the news everyday, but may come across a piece here or there randomly on the internet. The news might still be covering the unrest in Sudan right now, but no one can argue when I say that the focus for the last week was definitely around that submarine.

It seems like the news, like social media, is catering to the viewers. They are choosing their stories based on what is popular or exciting, hoping to piggyback on the wave. Different news websites dissected so many aspects of this incident, hoping to get people reading and clicking on their pages.

I came across an article that triggered this thought process about the news and social media in my head (it was highlighted when I opened up edge browser- edge and chrome are now basically the same, so chrome enthusiasts please relax).

This article, I kid you not, focussed solely on the game controller that was the method for piloting the submarine; it didn’t specifically talk about the electronics inside the controller and how it might have caused issues, no... It was talking about Amazon reviews... Seriously? There are 5 people stuck in a metal container under the immense pressure of water on top of them, and this article is talking about how this game controller had bad reviews on Amazon?! It just shows how much the news (or at least that particular website) was trying to milk out of this ‘exciting’ incident.

The so called “milking” of this story on the news reached a level I didn’t expect it to. One of my friends told me that they heard one of the people inside the submarine was actually a descendant of a couple who died on the Titanic. Why exactly is that relevant to the story? It is an intriguing fact, and that is exactly why the news mentioned it... It gets people clicking.

Once again, not comparing tragedies (I feel like I have to repeat this in case misunderstandings occur), but this incident should have been local news, or national at best... Why did I, someone living in the UK, see it covering every news page and social media? Simple... It’s exciting.

The news knows that something like a submarine accident is quite novel, compared to everything else we see in the news. They know people would be interested in it, so they pushed. And they pushed hard.

I can’t completely blame them I guess, because it is hard for “traditional media” to compete against social media and how fast things spread, so they also need to be catchy. What annoyed me was how they used this incident, where people’s lives were in danger, to their benefit.

You can say the same about this article I wrote - that I am piggybacking on this incident - and you would be right. All I can say is that this incident can’t be avoided anyway because of how the news spread it, and I’m simply using it as an example of a bigger issue in media.

The news should be relaying information to us that we need, not information they think we would like. Globally, this submarine accident doesn’t have an impact, that is all I’m saying.

I don’t know if this incident was actually mentioned globally, but it was certainly quite wide spread in the news in the UK (and I can almost guarantee it was the same in Europe).

This was just a little rant, if you will, about how the news is basically viewer lead now, instead of being informative like it should be. Of course, this is not new but, like the old saying, this was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” for me so I just decided to write about it.

What do you think? Am I being too crass here? Do you agree with me about this trend?