An item of news came up about 45 minutes ago that aroused my interest so I went onto the news website to read more about it. I don’t often view the “news” like this. I normally listen to or watch it on the TV as I do other things like get ready for work or housework etc.

Flicking through page after page was awful. When you listen to the various items on television, or read the ticker-tape type of commentary along the bottom of the screen, the huge volume of tragic events around the world does not strike you as much. (well, not me anyway).

Perhaps, as I read through the site the attached images of the victims or their grief-stricken families resonated more deeply because I had more time to take it in; time you don’t have with a TV screen before it moves on to the next catastrophe.

The number of really major new stories that seem to constantly be pushed off the “front page” by the latest “breaking” item leaves me feeling guilty for having forgotten their story so soon. We may stop talking about it, but, for the people involved, the nightmare continues.

I actually searched for “good news stories” but with dismal results. Not too many “And Finally” type topics that used to end the Nine O’Clock news when I was young to lift the mood of the viewers. No, the horror of it all is given to us without any sugar-coating. Yet I fear we are becoming so desensitized by the amount of graphic information and images we take in, day in and day out, that we will miss something; something hugely important with long-reaching consequences.

So, if that politician was right, and you bury bad news on a day where bad news is in abundance then I wonder, “What have we missed?”