< If It Bleeds, It Leads

If It Bleeds, It Leads/Quotes

Charlie Brooker: "Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is, there's generally more good than bad in the world. Unless you're watching the news, which likes to Accentuate the Negative at every turn."


Dr. Park Dietz, forensic psychiatrist: "We've had twenty years of mass murderers, throughout which I have repeatedly told CNN and our other media, if you don't want to propagate more mass murders, don't start the story with sirens blaring.[1] Don't have photographs of the killer.[2] Don't make this 24/7 coverage.[3] Do everything you can not to make the body count the lead story,[4] not to make the killer some kind of Anti-Hero.[5] Do localize this story to the affected community, and make it as boring as possible in every other market. Because every time we have intense saturation coverage of a mass murder, we expect to see one or two more within a week.

Charlie Brooker: In summary, then, not only does bad news always trump good news, but that bad news might itself actually help create more bad news. Which is good news, if you're the news.

  1. ↑ Cut to sirens blaring, and "The school day had only just begun when the attacker struck."
  2. ↑ Cut to a black-and-white image of a spree killer, and "The 17-year-old's three-hour rampage ended in his own death."
  3. ↑ Cut to "The German Chancellor is about to give her reaction. We'll bring that to you live."
  4. ↑ Cut to "Carnage in the classroom, sixteen people are dead."
  5. ↑ Cut to "Dressed in black combat gear, the gunman opened fire at random."
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