Information overload

Bob Harris made an interesting observation, just now:

Right this minute, on the BBC World service: a lengthy report on humanitarian efforts in Africa. No news crawl. If you didn't know the London bombings had happened already, you wouldn't even know.

Right this minute, on CNN International: a lengthy report on anti-terrorism efforts in other countries, so far specifically framed as a series of successful trades: decreasing freedom for increasing surveillance, with greater security supposedly as the net result. Along the bottom, a news crawl repeats bombing-related headlines constantly.

— Media after the London bombings: compare and contrast, at Bob Harris

He's got a point. There's a larger one to be made about the very format of US news (and some of its imitators) of late. That whole jet cockpit-like 'let's bombard the viewer with multiple streams of trvialities' approach, it fosters neither reflection nor calm.