Those responsible for the terrorist attack in Manchester last night know full well that no matter how appalling their actions are, they will have little long-lasting effect on life in the UK. However, what they really want is to cause disruption and to gain the maximum possible publicity.
Sadly, publicity and disruption is exactly what they have achieved. Wall-to-wall coverage on multiple television channels plus chaos in Manchester and the surrounding area as police cordon off streets, hospitals cancel appointments and schools consider cancelling examinations. While the short-term disruption may be necessary, the blanket coverage by news media is not.
BBC, ITV, Sky and, no doubt, other broadcasters have given over hour after hour to mostly repetitive coverage of the events. Their normal schedules have been abandoned and they have simply tried to wring every last ounce of 'news' out of the horror, injury and loss suffered by the people who were at last night's event. All other news, however, important or worthy, has been side-lined and one wonders what would have to happen to gain their attention, focused as it is on a mawkish and morbid determination to concentrate on this one tragedy.
Of course, the bombing was shocking and awful but does it really demand such coverage by the media ? There is little to report on a moment-by-moment basis and, after the initial reports and coverage, updates in the regular news bulletins would surely have sufficed. In fact, in their excessive coverage, the media has provided exactly what the bomber and his accomplices wanted - maximum publicity for their cause, whatever that may turn out to have been.
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