An unexpectedly serious silly season
In April this year, Gordon Brown, announced in the Guardian that the public was moving away from an obsession with celebrity towards a new-found seriousness. Obviously, this was an expedient comment – in spite of the ‘bounce’ he is currently enjoying, Brown hardly has a reputation for lightheartedness.
But perhaps he is a better reader of the public mood than we have suspected until now. Because this summer – the time when even the broadsheets usually go to town on more frivolous stories – has been notable for its seriousness.
Of course, this has been in part because the last three months have been punctuated by crises that have bordered on national emergencies. First there was the attempted terrorist attack on Glasgow City Airport, followed by nation-wide floods, followed by foot-and-mouth. Indeed, Martha Kearney’s quip that the land seemed to have been hit by Biblical-style plagues can’t have seemed too far off the mark for the beleaguered Government press officers.
And most recently, there have, of course, been the string of tragic juvenile killings in UK towns and cities, and ongoing search for Madeleine McCann. But the vacuum of news emanating from the Government and Opposition seems to have provided room for a number of in-depth, considered, and (dare-we-say-it), investigative pieces of journalism that have actually tried to peel away the nuances and complexities of the various debates at play. Hence Anna Holligan’s epic piece on last week’s Today programme on the increased prevalence of girl gangs.
But the seriousness of the summer months has not just been a result of this greater spirit of inquiry. What have been conspicuous by their near total absence have been the ‘silly’ season articles that make staying at home for the usually risible summer season worthwhile. In the last three months, we have had three to my mind – “Hitler’s” record collection (proved fraudulent the day after Alexandra Besymenskaja – the daughter of a Russian intelligence officer - made the collection public); the hysteria over the Great White Shark “sighting” off the Cornish coast in July, and the decision by Russian state TV to use clips from ‘Titanic’ to “sex up” the footage of their flag being planted on the Arctic floor. But to categorise the latter as a bona fide ‘silly’ season story would only do the Kremlin a massive favour, and the first two examples would probably have had a punt at finding their way onto the schedules even outside the summer months.
So, are we moving into a new age of seriousness? Having just ditched the celebrity spin-off version, will Endemol turn the Big Brother house into a glorified book club? Will the next series of ‘I’m A Celebrity …’ witness Ant and Dec discussing the treatment of the indigenous peoples of the Australian rainforest? No, probably not. Because when everyone has come home from their summer holidays and returned to the daily grind, then we’ll need some light-hearted stories in the news. And the media will surely oblige …