Be bad ~ boost your ratings

Ironic, innit? 'Shock radio' was started some years back to attract audiences. Now, thanks to worthy journalists and reporters, serious radio and tv actively promote dangerous choices.

Yesterday's Top Story ~ the man jailed for being "the fastest driver ever caught in a routine speed check". (Sounds like a Guinness Book of Records challenge if ever there was one.) One BBC reporter went to a race track and did reports to camera from inside a car travelling at the same speed; another reporter used speeded up footage to give an impression of what it was like. They were obviously having great fun - demonstrating what dangerous driving looks and feels like - and encouraging us all to share in the thrill of speed in the process.

Could it have been nearer the point to attempt an interview with someone in a semi-vegetative state following a high-speed crash and tell us what the NHS bill is? Or (more tastefully) show images of dummies in safety lab simulations as they crash at high speed? Or something soft being thrown at a car?

Today there are news reports of a judge's comment on the "trash" tv programme that exists to "titillate bored members of the public with nothing better to do". Reporting on his comments is obviously intended to stop people watching ...

Sex programmes aren't so pervasive on tv at the moment, but there are plenty of documentary type programmes around giving lots of good ideas on how to get your thrills by damaging something or someone.

STOP PRESS: just spotted the feature on the BBC news website detailing all the speeders of recent years and giving details of the website where a motorcyclist offender (still at large) posted video of himself in action.

And if anyone actually reads this blog, then I've probably contributed to the whole problem myself.