The link between 24 hour news and the emergency services is one of a love of celebrity. We remember the senior officer in the hunt for Raoul Moat with her fixation for casual, laid back appearances in front of the cameras (until it went wrong). All too often they are desperate to get to the media after major events. If it was to keep us informed it would probably be OK, but it seems they think they are 'reporters'.
Recently, a police officer said that Jimmy Savile spent every waking moment thinking about sexual abuse. What a moronic and unsubstantiated remark to make. We require facts from the police not wild speculation and personal opinion.
This type of stupidity I believe, is also the reason why the decision was taken to charge a man who staged a firework display, with causing the deaths of people in a pile up on a nearby road. Clearly, he cannot have had any control over the actions of the people driving those cars and claims that smoke from the event blanketed the road are ridiculous.
Milton Keynes has a massive firework display 'near' the M1 but there has never been a problem and the smoke doesn't obscure anything, even adjacent to the site. I'm sure people may be distracted and watch the fireworks rather than the road, but that really, really isn't the organiser's problem.
No, the decision to bring dramatic charges against the man in Taunton was due to the love of celebrity and making a drama out of a crisis. And now we hear they are dropping the manslaughter charges. Why? What has changed? Nothing, except maybe someone thought just how stupid the authorities would look, trying to prove in court, beyond reasonable doubt that this man caused these deaths directly and they were not attributable to any other cause.
These 'officials' with the celebrity madness gene activated are trying emulate the worst of the TV presenters and in that context we had a dreadful example today. As news of a helicopter crash in London came in, Sky News was transmitting its breakfast programme, which is unfortunate enough to have Eamonn Holmes on it. Today that became much worse. Holmes seemed fascinated by the opportunity for drama and started speaking of the dead pilot, before this had been confirmed. He also alternated between referring to the helicopter as a chopper or copter.
Holmes should never be allowed anywhere near a serious story, sounding insincere and fatuous whatever he is talking about, let alone when lives have been lost. I don't understand why anyone thinks he is a talent, but that is a matter of taste and opinion, but a News presenter? Never in a million years. Such reporting needs calm and accuracy. It may be valid to postulate ideas, which come close to speculation but these should be clear and educated. This is not an area of potential for Holmes. It just isn't.
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