Was Beyonce’s Baby Bombshell bigger than Brexit?
We live in a world of diverseness. From our nationality to our preferences in chocolate bars, we’re all different. So it goes without saying that as individuals we’re all interested in different things. I for example love dachshunds and Benedict Cumberbatch and I enjoy spending my weekends sitting at a cold, dreary racetrack watching sports cars race past at 100 miles per hour. However, I highly doubt that you are interested in all three of these things. And that’s okay, having different interests is good. No matter what you may have been told or what we’re meant to believe. Of course being interested in different things means that when it comes to the news, we probably look for different things.
I think we can split the term ‘news’ into the following sections:
The ACTUAL news — So this covers the real stuff. The type of stories that make the BBC News at 6. Here we can talk about terrorism, politics and world affairs. It’s the important stuff that effects us all, even if we ignore it or try to pretend it’s not happening.
The CRIME news — ‘Man jailed for killing two in police chase’ for example. Anything that involves the police, kidnappings or death. Usually the news in this section doesn’t make us laugh or feel happy. It simply highlights that there are some awful people in this world.
The LOCAL news — ‘Delays on A47 after tractor failure releases 50 cows onto the dual carriageway’. Completely useless information for you but seriously delays my parents journey to work!
The GOSSIP news — Often this section contains all the news about celebrities. And with this section I use the word ‘news’ loosely as often these stories are 90% bullshit.
The SPORT news — The world cup, the 6 nations, the Olympics, F1…etc!
The SPECIAL INTEREST news — Here comes the news that tailors specifically to our own interests. For example, ‘Restaurant opens in London that sells ONLY lasagna’, now for me this is the most exciting news I’ve heard in a long time, but I know that my flatmate, a passionate hater of lasagna, probably isn’t as hyped.
The question is, what does the term ‘news’ even mean? The Collins English Dictionary defines it as ‘information about a recently changed situation or a recent event’. When I think of the news I think of George Alagiah, Fiona Bruce or the EDP, my local paper. Beyonce’s recent baby reveal is not exactly what I’d class as news but probably got more interaction than this week’s budget announcements. So, I wonder why is it that the latter got less attention even though that out of the two affects us the most? And is Beyonce’s ‘news’ fake news?
Escapism. The reason we read, we go on holiday and we listen to music. Escapism. The reason Beyonce’s news was bigger than Brexit? I think the human race tends to run away from the things happening in our world that affect us directly. The ACTUAL news is a section that brings sadness and disdain to many, they’re not headlines that make us jump for joy or fill us with hope (in the most part). Most of us fear dealing with what’s actually real because the really real stuff often means change and humans don’t handle change very well. Beyonce’s news is great because it doesn’t affect a single one of us in the slightest, my life didn’t change one bit finding that out, which is why it was big news that we all shared and discussed. It definitely wasn’t fake in terms of not being a true story but perhaps it is fake if we look back at the real definition of ‘news’.
I guess what I’m trying to say is there’s no longer a clear cut definition of what constitutes as news, because it’s different for every one of us. The news to me is completely different to my parents type of news or my professors type of news. What we constitute as news will always depend on what it is we find interesting or want to know about.
I know that the term ‘fake news’ has been used a lot recently. The issue of news being sold as true but actually isn’t. Perhaps the issue is this ‘fake news’ is actually just GOSSIP news and it’s being confused with ACTUAL news. I think we need to make up a new term for anything that isn’t the ACTUAL, CRIME or LOCAL news.
A few suggestions…
1. Bitniz — ‘ahh yeah man did you hear the bitniz about the totally awesome lasagna only restaurant in London!?!’
2. Swen — ‘I can’t believe Beyonce’s swen, she’s having twins!’
3. Spews -‘Breaking Spews! Andy Murray wins Wimbledon’
Just lookout for those in next year’s Collins dictionary!
Edited with thanks to Elena
