Making up the news

I think that watching TV news in a different country lets you see things more clearly. Instead of the stuff you are used to and accept, the novelty of the situation makes you really think about what you're seeing. And what I am seeing on Sky news is just garbage.

There was recent coverage of a small jet plane crashing into a house near London. The plane had experienced some problem shortly after takeoff and was trying to get back to the airport. The homeowners were away on holiday so the only casualties were in the plane. A pilot and 3 passengers IIRC. OK, fair enough, they had interviewed a neighbor to find out that no one was home and had footage of the fire brigade dousing the flames.

Then Sky news dragged out the google earth view of the vicinity and the factless speculation began. It seems there was a hospital and school not so far from the impact. And they had a map with circles and arrows to prove it. Then they started praising the pilot for his heroic job of missing said hospital and school. And to prove that, they trotted out an "aviation expert" of some sort and tried to get him to join in the fun. To his credit, the expert would only go so far as to say the the pilot undoubtedly had plenty on his mind as he was trying to save his plane.

The fact that the pilot was trying to save the plane is reasonable inference. The business about trying to miss the hospital and school is simply speculation with no basis in fact. We are glad the plane missed those places, but have no reason why that happened.

So should we take the happy part of the story, missing the hospital and school, embellish it with a heroic pilot and all feel good about the world? I'd rather live in reality even with one less hero.