by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
august 27, 2004
Back in the swinging 60s, a saying that was often heard was "suppose they gave a war and nobody came". Well, suppose one morning everyone woke up to discover that there was no news. Nothing was happening--no murders, sexual assaults or home invasions. No floods or earthquakes. The Swift Boat Veterans and the not-so-swift politicians all decided to take the previous day off and there was absolutely nothing to report. Nada.
Well it never quite happens like that, but there are some slow news days. These slow days are especially common in the dog days of summer just prior to Labour Day. although there is always something to report, the media does a lot of stretching to find a story that it can lead off with. In the city of Toronto, last Tuesday was such a day.
For part of that day, 680 News, Toronto’s all news station led with the following item. It seems that it takes more than just coordination and physical skill to become an Olympic athlete. according to this breaking news item, professional and Olympic (same thing) athletes are subject to mental pressures. It’s a good thing that this astonishing fact was reported as a lead item. Listeners who perhaps only listen to the teasers now know that athletes who perform in the Olympics with the entire world watching as they try to win a gold medal for their country feel some stress. Who would have 'thunk' it? Thanks 680 News--what would we ever do without you?
Not to be outdone by their radio counterpart, Toronto’s Citytv carried a story that, in fairness to the station was featured in other media, about diabetes. It seems that a high sugar intake can cause diabetes. That’s old news, but apparently the new news is that soda pop has high sugar content and people who drink a lot of pop have a greater risk of getting the disease. Not only that, but seemingly sugar is also fattening and the more pop a person drinks, the greater chance they have of becoming obese. Citytv, the station that prides itself on being caring and compassionate brought out their "health specialist", Laura DiBattista, who told the viewers that it is healthier to drink water than pop. So now you know.
On the same day that City ran that story, they also reported on a survey about sleep. It seems that a majority of people would rather sleep in larger beds than in smaller ones. King and queen sized beds are thought to be more comfortable to get a good night’s sleep in than single beds are. and here we thought that you could get a much better rest if you piled two or three people into a single bed. You learn something every day.
The evening that these items were aired, two passenger planes crashed in Russia at virtually the same time. The timing of the crashes and the fact that one of planes may have emitted a signal that it had been hijacked fueled speculation that aircraft had been brought down by terrorists.
and suddenly, the media was back in business.