From a reader:
Hi Jonah,
Just got back from a week in the UK last night.
The whole time I was there all news outlets and programs…especially the BBC, were wall to wall with coverage of the return of the four UK citizen detainees from Guantanamo. The nation was blanketed with stories, reports and chat show discussions, all of which carried the same underlying themes and memes—barbaric Americans…poor lads…evil Bush…etc..
You would have thought that Army Rangers had swooped down on the Manchester Marks & Spencer’s and ripped these guys out the arms of their blind grandmothers. There was practically no mention of the fact that all of these guys had been picked up in the middle of a war zone in Afghanistan (when they supposedly were visiting Pakistan, which they had suddenly gotten the urge to go visit a few weeks after 9/11.)
Most of the TV channels interrupted regular programming to carry the landing of the C-130 plane carrying the sweet boys. The “presenter” I watched pointed out several times that the British authorities would not be making the lads wear shackles and hoods (unlike some other country we all know and loathe.)
Now the irony…
Yesterday morning the TV channels were in the middle of more live coverage of the Fab Four (preparing to show the release of one of them from the Paddington Green police station and the tearful reuniting with the family) when the reports of the bombings in Spain began to come through. All coverage switched over to cover that developing story.
What a difference a few minutes makes.