To think the wall to wall coverage of the titanic sub is a bit much?

[mosiacmaker]

I get that it’s a universally interesting story due to how unique it is, and I am incredibly sorry for the people who died and their families. But the BBC world service global news podcast devoted over 10 mins to this story out of a total 24 minute podcast this morning.

There are so many things happening in the world right now, tragedies but also fantastic innovations and inventions we could be hearing about, but almost 50% of the broadcast was devoted to press conferences and descriptions of the sub, quotes from people who knew the victims etc.

AIBU to think the attention given to this story reached outsize levels and the BBC has a duty to provide fair coverage to stories that will impact our lives?

I actually found the opposite - I've seen lots about it online but whenever I've put the news on, it's not been mentioned. Always seem to be talking about wind rush or the Covid enquiry.

"local news" can't cover all the world into detail.
We can hear about nearly everything if we read international like Al Jazeera on top of British news and actually venture in designated section on pagea like bbc. It's just how it is. Local main pages will concentrate on local and some world absolutely unique stories.

Really? how odd. It has had lots, and lots of coverage. I do not know what news channels you have been watching.

Really? how odd. It has had lots, and lots of coverage. I do not know what news channels you have been watching.

Just the basics - bbc, channel 4, itv in the early evening. It keeps saying "submarine special" on channel 4 and then when you put it on, that's not what they're talking about.

This exactly.

Yes, I do agree OP, but it's because it captures people's imaginations - and I'm sorry, I don't mean that to sound as insensitive as it does. I've had a sleepless night about this story - so for me, anyway, it does have huge impact. This is why I think it's had a disproportionate amount of coverage (some reasons you might find valid, and others not so much, for I think they are factors nevertheless):

• It's a very human story - we have been shown the faces of the people involved and there was a father and son there. I have a son of roughly the same age, just starting out on life, and it's hit me hard.

• It's a story of hubris. The complacency about the Titanic not needing a full quota of lifeboats was one of the biggest examples of hubris in history - and ironically and very tragically, this story seems to be part of the same over-confident attitude that we humans have. So it resonates in a historic way in the sense that you might say 'Will we ever learn?' or as some sensational newspapers have put it 'The Titanic claims 5 more victims'.
• It's a horrible, horrible way to die. It's not just drowning, which is horrific enough. The pressure at 2.5 miles below sea level is huge and I won't go into the effects that would have on the human body.
• I pray (though I'm not religious) that those men died quickly in some catastrophic event and didn't have to sit there, realising their fate...again, especially for the father and son together. I can't get them out of my mind.
• And on a more trivial, sensational level - lots of people have seen the film and are fascinated by the Titanic.

Yes, of course innocent people are dying all the time and usually we don't know about it or don't get shown their images or told their stories. It's like most human disasters - to be told x hundred of people have died is one thing, but to be shown the faces of a few and given their back-stories etc brings it right into focus. It's like the difference between knowing that 7 m people died in the Holocaust and then watching a documentary or reading a book about a few individuals victims. The identification with the victims is much more powerful when individualised.

I agree. Their families should pay the costs for the searches. Just shows how screwed the world is regarding rich white people

What sunken ferry off the coast of Turkey? There is no mention of one online.
Theres the migrant fishing boat that sank off the coast of Greece and there’s the ferry fire in the Phillipines (everyone rescued).

Lcb123 · Today 13:15
I agree. Their families should pay the costs for the searches. Just shows how screwed the world is regarding rich white people

Do you realise that 2 of the occupants were not 'white people'?

If they'd survived, I would sort of agree with this principle - a contribution should have been made. But the whole thing is so horrible - surely even you would agree their families will have suffered enough?

You can fast forward thru boring bits of podcasts. i do this often. :)

God you’re lazy in your virtue signalling. Two of the five who died in the submersible implosion were Pakistani as in they shared the same race and nationality as more than 300 of those who died in the migrant boat sinking off the coast of Greece.

It's tragic and all that, but at the end of the day it's a bunch of hugely wealthy people going off on a jaunt that mere mortals couldn't conceive of affording, and it happens to have gone badly wrong. It wasn't "exploration".

Seems like loads of money was spent by governments and others that would have been questionable if you thought about it beforehand. Shouldn't be as/more newsworthy as 500 kids in the hold of a migrant boat.

@CoffeeCantata "It's a horrible, horrible way to die." - it's instantaneous, they wouldn't have realised or felt anything at all.

It's been appalling and not in very good taste ever since it was announced missing. The chances of a successful outcome were always low and now (as always, after every bloody disaster) it's the blame game.

I do think the BBC newsis turning into the TV version of some tabloid with speculation, intrusion and voyeurism into people's lives.

Of course it's newsworthy in mainstreem standard UK news more than something what didn't have their residents/citizens involved.
Same like the boat is newsworthy in countries whose citizens were involved.

Thats a bit of a distorted view. The passengers new to the full what dangers there are. They signed that they understood.

There isnt any logic in your argument. Discussing news coverage isnt adding to the news coverage. Its a fair point to raise and discuss.

It's specifically because it's linked to the titanic. That story hold such awe and interest for so many people that a modern day mystery directly related to it makes people want to watch. If they wanted to see some random boat there would be less interest.

@filka

I really, really hope you're right.

Figgygal · Today 12:52
I can understand it as a tool of distraction
Big money, follyof high risk tourism, the "glamour" of the titanic
People love a race against time story even though it was bloody obvious this was the most likely outcome.

Yet children die enmasse in Sudan orphanages, war continues in many territories and people in this country are having to choose which of their children can eat on which days and we barely hear about it. We blunder through this world with barely an acknowledgement of its grim realities for many because the media directs our view.

We know more about what goes on in the world today than we ever have in the past for obvious reasons.

People have died in their thousands in horrible ways throughout human history and prehistory because humans can be aggressive and cruel and greedy.

How can people can take on the stress and worry of every tragic death which happens in the world? I think MH is under enough stress in 2023. Most people have very little control over horrible events - like the murder of those poor young girls in their school in Africa last week, or the persecution of the Rohinja Muslims, among countless others. Virtue signalling might be the way some people want to go. I donate to a relevant charity when I hear of disasters - a pathetically feeble gesture, I know - but realistically, in my bubble with my own family to consider and the pressures of modern life, I'm not likely to do much else.

I think comparing disasters, tragedies and making out that some are not as bad as others etc etc is pointless and in poor taste.

Yes, far too much overkill.

Well the reason it is on the news today is because experts challenged the safety in advance. The guy in charge who died only has himself to blame (Darwinism). I have little sympathy for the others who paid. I do feel for the young lad who was guilted into going with his Dad as a Father’s Day treat. He was apparently very scared.

Got a mention but not the days long front page news coverage.

Rich western privilege.

Or.... Newspapers covering what locals read.
They are not covering floods in Germany, Spain got mention because it's holiday time, innit. They were not extensively covering recent cyclones in Asia, heathwave in India etc.
Well they do a bit but in dedicated world sections.
Because most people's interests lie close to home. Bit like moaning that Gulf news don't have news from Uk unless it has an effect on ME.
This self flagellating "bad white western people" is getting really, really tiring.

Btw it is still in news that the traffickers are in court and Greece is investigating. So are Canary Islands now...