News From the World

As one could probably guess, I've been reading a great bit of British news lately. (trying to read up for when I finally arrive of course!)  Anyway, it's amazing the differences between a US based news site and one based in the UK.  I have to add the disclaimer, that while I do occasionally check out the Guardian, I'm mostly a HuffPost UK girl, so all of my assumptions are based on that site. 

My favorite difference is the types of headings they use.  In US online papers, you get the usual fare, Politics, World, Sports, Justice, etc.  In the UK, you get the usual, but you get fun stuff too: Comedy, Culture, Lifestyle, Students.  Getting a chance to see the different prizes and cultural events that are happening across the pond, is a lot more exciting than reading about another Romney/Obama debate.  Headlines are so much cooler, too.  The Brits are known for their sense of humor, and they actually seem to use that to their advantage in headline writing.  No perfect examples spring to mind, but they surely get away with a lot more than we do when it comes to things that are slightly cheeky. I can only guess that's because we don't really know what that word means : )

Of course, that's not to say that they're avoiding our news by any stretch.  There are so many of our big stories making the front page, that I often have to check that I'm actually on the UK site.  The election is one of those reasons.  I'm trying to avoid having to hear the pros and cons of all candidates, but each day there's another smiling pic of Obama or Romney shaking so and so's hand at some rally, most often the same one that's on the front page of all the US papers.  It's really rather annoying, but of course, it's to be expected.  What is surprising, to me anyway, is the lack of press the UK stories get on our sites. 

For the last few weeks, I've been following the truly horrible case of British celebrity Jimmy Savile.  He was one of the BBC's brightest stars for about 40 years, gained a knighthood and thousands of followers, and died in 2011.  But, recently, inquiries began to look at  allegations of sex abuse.  The story has progressively more horrifying over the last few weeks.  The BBC is now being investigated for covering up allegations, the background check for the knighthood is being closely looked at, and worst of all, Scotland Yard believes he abused upwards of 300 girls and women over his lifetime.  The story is probably one of the biggest of its kind ever, certainly.  However, even though this started to boil over around the beginning of October, it just hit CNN this week.  It's kind of terrible, that the US media can be so US-centric sometimes.  You kinda just want to yell: You know there are other countries out there, right?!

Though, my reading doesn't always get me all the news my entire country is talking about,  I have to say, I'd much rather read about who won the Booker Prize for Literature  than why swing states are so important to candidates.  Really, in all this pre-election chaos, wouldn't you?!