TRADITIONALLY this a dread time of year for media consumers as journalists want to work as little as possible. Like everybody else, they want a seasonal break and a rare drink.
So they prepare thousands of words in advance — or even drive out to the cottage in Weekendshire, leaving the workies to compile the words.
Hence word slots in newspapers, on TV and on radio will be stuffed with reviews of, and quizzes about, the events of the year. There will be lists of anniversaries for the next year and looks back at predictions made during the year. Economics/business writers like looking at their predictions — it’s a good way to make them look clever by the simple device of not mentioning forecasts that were wrong.
The selectivity trick is becoming obsolete because internet publication lets readers check such claims quickly. So Loving Dalston will not be trying it. Instead, the website will take a few days off — and if there is not much news in Hackney and environs, perhaps more than a few days.
First, a big thank you for continuing to read this site, thus giving moral support to the attempt to report news that the better-resourced media miss or ignore or that somebody somewhere does not want anybody anywhere to read. Thanks, too, to the businesses that give vital financial support with their advertising.
But above all, Loving Dalston wishes you