AIBU to think the Southern Rail strike is not National News?

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Watching the BBC news at lunchtime. Tiny snippet of news about Aleppo and now massive in-depth coverage of the Southern Rail strike include homevideos of commuters journeys etc.

I understand this is an important issue for those who live within the small area covered by Southern Rail - but does it really merit coverage on the National News - surely should be a local news story?

It's been going on since the Summer, maybe even longer. I think that if a major commuter route in and out of any UK city, carrying over a quarter of a million passengers a day, was reduced to unusable levels for the best part of 6 months, there would be similar coverage. People have lost their jobs, had to find hundreds of pounds for extra travel/childcare and generally had their lives disrupted for most of the year. Hundreds of thousands of people are affected and in most cases there are no alternative routes available - you can't just drive into London. And it's all because of a greedy franchise and some political squabble.

There was a similar level of coverage when the East Coast franchise (London/Newcastle/York/Doncaster/Durham/Glasgow/Edinburgh/Aberdeen etc) went tits up a few years ago, the main difference there was that it was taken over by the government pretty quickly.

I didn't mind it being on the news,
But multiple people's 'stories' shot on their iPhones was a bit much. "This is John, his journey to work took 2 hours instead of the usual 1". Oh the horror!

It is also a very, very populous part of the country. So large numbers of people affected.

Also even if you don't live in this area, you could have plans to visit, or travel here for work.

But I do think the main points that makes it nation news are that: 1. It could well happen elsewhere soon, 2. It's affecting taxpayers everywhere.

Oh, but it is! Because no-one important can get into London.

You're obviously not important enough

If the commentator I heard was accurate, it's the biggest rail strike in 20 years.

It affects 300,000 passengers each day.

And it's a proxy fight about the power of the unions, which goes way beyond the region directly affected.

My 3 hour round trip commute has turned into a 5 hour round trip commute. I've had to take holiday and work from home. This is affecting a huge number of people; of course it is national news.

What about flooding? That's been national news even though it's a localised issue. Rape or murder? Oh because only one or two people are involved it shouldn't be news?

It affects the Gatwick Express too (sharply reduced service)

Yes YADB fucking U. It covers Wiltshire, Hampshire, Surrey, East and West Sussex, parts of Kent and a whole swathe of South London - not exactly a small area. It's been going on for months and making hundreds of thousands of people's lives a misery - not just those that have to use the sodding excuse for a 'service' but their families as well. People are losing/leaving their jobs because of it, missing life-critical hospital appointments, paying thousands for hotel rooms and losing hundreds of working hours. And in January they are going to put the fares up.

Too damn right it's national news. Just be fucking thankful if it doesn't affect you.

It's a massive rail strike that is costing a lot of money; and affects other services. It's more that that's the news, rather than Jim being late.

The post office strike is only crown based offices, isn't it? I got an email from RM last night saying 98% of post offices are functioning as normal, so that's not really national news either.

Of course it's national news. There are issues around privatisation, government relations with unions, how our railways are run nationally, implementation of new technology, the way railways are regulated.

There is a huge issue about how we are treated as consumers. Even if it doesn't concern me directly (I live in Yorkshire) I'm very angry about how people are being treated as cattle like money generators at great expense to their own lives and pockets in return for a very poor service. Consumers being treated like that affects us all.

Most people are interested in things outside their own bubble which is why floods oop north and the state of northern schools makes the news too.

I also think many more people will be affected this Friday when the schools break up for the Xmas holidays - I predict chaos

There are issues around privatisation, government relations with unions, how our railways are run nationally, implementation of new technology, the way railways are regulated.

Issues which weren't really covered.

There is a huge issue about how we are treated as consumers.

Also not covered.
The segment focused on these poor commuters whose journey times had been doubled. There was maybe a sentence about the government stamping on unions. Nothing about any of the other issues you listed. If the segment had focused on those issues with maybe a sentence on increased journey times then that would have been far more relevant, and far better journalism.

Most people are interested in things outside their own bubble

It would be nice if the things in ones own bubble were also occasionally covered...

YABU. The ridiculous actions of the unions could have a far reaching impact across the whole country.

YABU. This issue has affected people for months. I was living in Brighton earlier in the year and the strikes were disruptive enough then, and are only getting worse.

I would've thought if you can have some empathy for Syria then you can muster a bit for people in the South of the same country that you live in.

It's half a million people, so it's a fairly significant number who are affected. And it's not just a question of "ooh, Bob's commute took 2 hours not 1 - cry me a river" - this has gone on for so long that people are losing their jobs, not getting to see their families, having to move house.....

What's happening in Syria is horrific, and of course it must be on the news, but they aren't mutually exclusive - more than one thing can be on the news.

Those of us in the South weren't affected by, for example, the horrific flooding in Cumbria etc, but I can still see why it would belong on the national news.

And it's not just a question of "ooh, Bob's commute took 2 hours not 1 - cry me a river"

But this is what was presented on the news.

Southern's excuse for a service has been rumbling on for a couple years - it was one reason I quit work in central London a year ago. There's been a bunch of strikes over a few years, but this is all escalating.

About 12 million people commute into or across London each day, and about a quarter of those are going to be affected today thanks to no trains on Southern, or huge overcrowding on adjacent Thameslink/SouthEastern/SWT services, or the crowds preventing them getting onto gridlocked buses.

The fact that coverage of anything on the news keeps being dumbed down to "Janet is sad because she's delayed and can't see her child's nativity play/John is worried about losing his job" rather than explaining what the issues are, why the Govia contract is such a problem, what is preventing new drviers being magicked up, doesn't mean the story itself is unnewsworthy.

I agree that there is a bias towards the South in national news coverage, but I do think this is turning into a national issue. Southern Rail have been striking a lot, but I think it is only now that there is such extensive coverage - correct me if I'm wrong here. Plus, there is not an awful lot of information coming out of Syria at the moment - BBC etc. have very strict guidelines about verifying sources before they can report things. It is a lot easier to find information on Southern Rail.

notcitrus

You missed out that the Piccadilly Line is fucked for the foreseeable, and the Victoria Line was part suspended today too.

And generally, one poor news report does not render a story unimportant.

It's unhelpful to shout people down with "but Aleppo" - as though we should put up with all kinds of shit because there are worse things happening elsewhere in the world.

We are the 5th/6th (?) largest economy in the world, and 300,000 passengers a day are commuting in conditions that would be illegal for livestock.

I'm happy with the level of coverage. I don't understand the legality or otherwise of unions, strikes, franchise agreements etc so I'm loathe to comment on what should/could be done, but I'm astonished that this has gone on for so long.

Of course the news channels will go for the "citizen journalism", social media friendly, human interest angle. That doesn't mean it isn't an important story which has wider ramifications. This long standoff has led to people losing their jobs because the service is consistently unreliable. Like it or not London is our country's capital and Southern offer some of the major commuter services. Of course the national news is going to cover events affecting many people there.

That doesn't mean it isn't an important story which has wider ramifications.

Shame the news didn't really cover the wider ramifications and covered it as a local human interest story

I live in Northumberland so not in the south. But a lot of people do live there. In fact, a lot more people live in London than in the whole of Scotland. So I guess it does make sense.