Jane Nees BOP Regional Councillor www.janenees.co.nz

I suppose that we have all been guilty of exaggerating from time to time. And there is no denying that as humans, we are titillated by dramatic stories and events. If we weren't we wouldn't have so many popular action movies and fictional novels – and we wouldn't be interested in gossip.

But there is a place and time for sensationalism – and it shouldn't be in our news media. I have been dismayed over the past month or so about the approach some of our news media are taking to the Rena disaster. The headlines are often pure sensationalism – written to attract interest rather than to give a true picture of what is actually happening. It makes me suspect that someone takes a press release and thinks, what spin can we put on this to fuel concern (no pun intended) or add drama to the events unfolding? More than once I have caught sight of a headline and thought – oh, dear what has just happened – only to find that the media has just taken the press release I have already seen and put the most dramatic and negative spin on it possible.

This may serve the interests of the media – but it certainly does not serve the best interests of our community. News distribution is now global, and the messages in the media reach international markets pretty quickly. People doing business with us or planning to travel to our shores are influenced by negative messages about our economy and our environment. And often it is only the headlines that people have time to read, so misleading headlines mean misleading impressions.

Our news media have a responsibility to report the news fairly and accurately. I also believe that both the good and bad news need to be reported equally, and that just focusing on the bad stuff is irresponsible. So when it comes to our news reporting, please cut the sensationalism and give us the real news not negative spin.

If you have any views on this or any other issue, please contact me on neesj@xtra.co.nz or ring me on 07 579-5150. Or you can check out my website at www.janenees.co.nz