Day 27 & 28 - Today’s Total: 27, Overall Total: 998

Well I started this day with news thanks to yahoo.com that a man had hanged (hung?) himself last night after the Arsenal vs Manure match. A guy in Nigeria who was supporting Arsenal was apparently drunk when he staggered out of a bar and the next time anyone saw him he was Dead. And I thought Darren Fletcher had a bad night.

We’ve also been handed the news that Max Mosley’s son has died from a drug overdose, at 39. It’s strange that this is only really ‘newsworthy’ because of the link to Mosley. If that scandal hadn’t occurred last year this Death would never have been reported.

At what point does a General order the killing of innocent civilians in order to kill the enemy? The point that the US attempts to fight the Taliban. Yesterday ‘dozens’ of civilians were killed when the US Army sent an air strike into Farah province of Afghanistan targeting Taliban rebels. How dare they do such a thing. How dare they ignore the reason they’re ‘meant’ to be there. How can such a bunch of ignorant idiots be the dependants of so many desperate people? Apparently they ‘deeply deeply’ regret the incident, probably because it looks bad on them rather than the terror forced on those they killed and injured.

Guess what; swine flu has barely been mentioned today! Finally I can get back coughing in people’s faces, sneezing on the cutlery and rolling around in pig sties!

A horrible story from Ukraine of a fire in a casino killing 10 people in the town on Dnipropetrovsk. Apparently fire safety guidelines were completely ignored as people watched a football match on the TV.

There was more violence in the West Bank, with two people dying in ‘clashes’ in Israel. An Israeli soldier was killed whilst an unarmed Palestinian was shot by the same Israeli army outside the entrance to a cave.

And of course we can’t go a day without a bomb blast somewhere in the east; this time in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. 12 people were killed by the suicide bomb, of which the Taliban have taken credit for.

There has been disturbing news reported on the BBC News website that a police officer has been arrested over the Death of a fellow colleague earlier today. The report focuses a lot on the accused, which surely isn’t right. Instead of a heart-felt report on a woman losing her life, it seems as though an interesting murder mystery may be developing; I’m sure a lot more interesting.

Day 26 – Today’s Total: 74, Overall Total: 971

Well yesterday was started with headline that was definitely not suited to the story, ‘Massacre at Turkey Wedding’. Now, 44 people were killed in this horrific incident when masked gunmen entered the party in the Mardin province of Turkey. The enormity and seriously of the attack, however, did not stop the BBC from using this particular headline, to collate with a scene in Tarantino’s Kill Bill, dubbed ‘Massacre at Two Pines’, whereby gunmen enter a wedding chapel and open fire. I just feel a bit of insensitivity on the behalf of the BBC with this one.

Another bombing in Baghdad has left 10 people Dead, BBC News reports, after an explosion in a vegetable market in the Iraqi capital. The report goes on to say that the series of bombings in recent weeks has shown April to be the bloodiest month of the year, with 335 Deaths.

This news is coupled with another car bomb, this time in north-western Pakistan. The suicide blast killed four security personnel.

News on a more heart-felt note of feminist writer Marilyn French passing away at 79. One of the captions in the report simply says ‘not a man-hater’. Feminists get a rough ride.

Another hazardous tragedy has been witnessed in Brazil, with severe floods killing 15 people throughout the north and north-eastern regions of the country. Why is this not ‘headline news’? Maybe because it is an even happening so far away, with so little impact on ourselves?

Day 24 – Today’s Total: 89, Overall Total: 897

It’s been a strange last few days. Apparently swine flu isn’t as bad as once thought. Or was that bird flu? Wait wasn’t that SARS? Looks like crisis over anyway, although I’m sure the media will run with the story until Winehouse burps the national anthem or something crude and not-newsworthy.

Well we can start with some good news. Two pitiful excuses for human beings have been arrested for the Death of the man run over in Leeds last Friday. I know, ‘innocent before proven guilty’ and all that; but sod it, if they did it then they deserve the clowns pocket they’ll get in prison, and a lot more.

Back to the news, and the BBC News website have reported on six people dying in Austria after an avalanche occurred in the Alps region of the country. What a horrible way to go.

Well you think you can’t get much more bad news from the Middle-East, and then you hear about a tragic bus crash in the Iranian city of Tehran, killing 26 people. A mechanical problem was apparently to blame, which caused the bus to smash into a building at high speed, something that really should not be happening with the global technology we have on hand today.

This occurred on the same day that another tragic accident, this time in the Indian-controlled area of Kashmir, saw 27 people dead, as their bus veered off a mountain side, plunging into a river.

There is still violence in Iraq. This time, an Iraqi dressed in his nation’s army uniform has shot dead two US soldiers is Mosul. It really does seem like an impossible task out there, to group such a clearly divided country under one very unstable roof.

The widely reported Gaza unrest at the end of last year seems to have died down now. However, this does not mean the fighting has fully stopped. A report yesterday told of an Israeli air strike killing two people on the Gaza side of the Gaza-Egypt boarder.

Unfortunately, unrest continues in other places of the world, with a roadside bomb exploding on the streets of Zabul and Laghman provinces of Afghanistan, killing a total of 25 civilians. What is worse is that reports say one of the suicide bombers was just 14-years-old.

The whole world seems to be in civil unrest, international war, or technologically suffering. So, we come to the UK, where the main report is that the body of a man has been found in a river, which was last seen ‘intoxicated and unsteady on his feet’. There’s a sad sense of irony here. Really, our lives are only bad if we make them bad.

Day 22 – Today’s Total: 17, Overall Total: 808

Thankfully the media are now reporting that the toll from swine flu may not be as high as it once seemed. However, the way the newspapers and news channels described the news as a torrent of illness sweeping the world was aided by their continuing mention of a rising Death toll. Now that it may not be as high as it was once feared, the media still seem to be adamant that as long as the figure changes, be it higher or lower, then it will help sell newspapers and generate ratings. The interest for them comes from a changing toll, rather than a controlled one. If it keeps changing, we’ll keep buying.

A man in the UK has died after falling and injuring himself when he tried to stop two dogs fighting. That’s all Yahoo! Said on the story.

Locally, a man died on Friday night after being run over in Leeds by two people driving individual cars. There isn’t a word that I could put here to justifiably describe them.

Yesterday also provided another shooting story, this time in the UK. A man was shot outside Wandsworth prison in London, and three men have been arrested.

Yesterday also reported the news of troops finally leaving Iraq. However, the ‘battle on terror’ as old Bush called it is still far from over. Just today, news that the Pakistan Army has fought off Taliban militants, killing 13 of them. Now, this news report shows a different side of the media, with a tone of relief and honour overruling sadness, remorse or respect that usually surrounds a Death news story. The enemy has been defeated once again.

Radio 5Live gave an update yesterday on the Dutch car Deaths, which rose to five.

Day 20 – Today’s Total: 48, Overall Total: 791

Yahoo.com ran a headline earlier today simply saying ‘Car rams Dutch Royal parade’. I had to check this link out, thinking some nutter had just ‘disturbed the peace’. In fact, the story went on to reveal that four people had been killed after a guy had driven down the parade and crashed into a monument, along with about 20 bystanders. What’s worse is that Yahoo! seemed to think that the most important thing to address was ‘The royal bus was not hit and no one in the queen's entourage was injured’. Oh well that’s good news; as long as the royals aren’t hurt.

Well another incident from abroad involving a shooting. This time, a man in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, killed 12 people at a training institute before ‘turning the gun on himself’, the BBC News website has reported. No one knows why he did it. But it’s good to know the writer of this report felt inclined to add ‘Azerbaijan is rich in oil and its state oil academy was founded in 1920’ at the end. No mention really of who actually died, but as long as we know the economic and political state of Azerbaijan in basic detail…

And further instability in the East. This time, 32 people have died in Pakistan over clashes within the civil population of Karachi. Now, paramilitary troops have had to have been deployed to try and quell the situation. It seems the Pakistan/India/Afghanistan regions are seriously under threat of political and economic implosion at the moment.

Just on a local level which will not be included in the ‘total’, I have just scanned down the ‘News’ section of the Huddersfield Examiner website. There were five Death reports, as well as numerous criminal activities reports. Not good for a local level newspaper. However, it shows simply how much stuff goes on behind the widely publicized national media.

Day 19 – Today’s Total: 17, Overall Total: 743

This virus is definitely a concern now. BBC 5Live reported on the first Death of the flu from outside Mexico as a child from Texas. Along with this, the toll has risen again to a proposed 159 people.

The BBC also had a story on their website from Merseyside. This is concerning a body of a girl being found in a house. It’s a horrible story.

Unfortunately news still splurges out of the East in torrents, with another reported explosion, this time in Turkey. Kurdish rebels have reportedly laid down land mines, which have killed nine soldiers in a single blast. It’s hard to believe a country so close to the EU’s boarders can have such an unstable social infrastructure.

Day 18 – Today’s Total: 4, Overall Total: 726

This flu virus seems to be worse than initially thought, with 152 suspected Deaths from the bug and over a thousand confirmed cases worldwide.

A horrible incident in Scotland has left the driver of a lorry Dead after he collapsed at the wheel ad drove into a hotel.

Day 17 – Today’s Total: 66, Overall Total: 722

Well maybe the flu is properly going to spread. The UK now has possibly 25 cases of it, whilst in Mexico the toll has now reached a supposed 149. This number has shot up drastically since yesterday. Luckily, no one else in the world has died, although it has now spread across Canada and Australia, as well as Israel.

Unfortunately, another report on wayward officials has come up in Russia, with an off-duty cop opening fire in a Moscow supermarket, killing three people. Is this another brick in the argument that police shouldn’t carry guns?

Sadly there has been another fatal car crash in Northern Ireland. Three people were killed after a two-car collision at 1am this morning. To the BBC’s credit they have covered the event with dignity.

Day 16 – Today’s Total: 38, Overall Total: 656

Hmm… it seems this flu virus may be around for longer than we thought. The US is on alert, whilst Scotland has had two patients omitted to hospital after flying back from Mexico. And it’s spreading badly in Mexico itself, with 81 people thought now to be dead.

On a local level, a head-on crash has killed two Leeds lads, whilst a man in Northern Ireland has also died in a car crash. The reports are short, and I don’t want to dwell on either issue.

The news on the Death of a person yesterday in a flooded car in Cornwall has now been followed up by another person being found. It seems the police are offering little hope of finding a third.

Another horrible incident has been reported on the BBC News website, with an elderly couple in Manchester being killed in a house fire as their roof caved in. Again the report is short, and I don’t want to stay on the issue.

On a lighter note, 11 people have been sentenced to Death in the Darfur region of Sudan after they helped kill over 200 citizens last year in the capital Khartoum. Justice can prevail some times at least.

Day 15 – Today’s Total: 62, Overall Total: 628

Well thanks to a power surge in Leeds the Internet connection died yesterday (no pun intended). So, I was unable to keep up.

Today bore witness to a possibly alarming story; Mexican flu. It has reportedly killed 60 people, and could turn into a ‘pandemic’. This isn’t exactly good news. However, hopefully it will be bird flu and SARS all over again; bad, but not as bad as reportedly predicted at the time.

Another tragic news story was told to me on Radio 5Live, with reports that brother of footballer Jermain Defoe had been killed in London. Unfortunately this is yet another terrible incident to come out of London. Street crime is alarmingly on the rise it seems.

The news of this incident was followed by reports of a body being found in Cornwall after a car had been swept away in a stream. The pictures of the car, found on the BBC News website, looked awful.

Day 14 - Today’s Total: 76, Overall Total: 566

Well I’ve just got back from uni and turned on my radio. The first thing I hear is a news bulletin of two suicide bombers in Iraq killing at least 76 people. Apparently they attacked homeless shelters in Baghdad and Baquba.

Day 13 - Today's Total: 4, Overall Total: 490

Well on the day of the Budget, Death news has somewhat slipped off the radar. However, we can always rely on America for some stories. This time, the guy who used to run Freddie Mac has killed himself. It’s good to find glimmer of hopes in the recession :|

Fantastically, another tragedy was reported in Mexico, with two undercover agents being killed by a hit-man of Mexico’s most wanted drug lord. There are some people you simply can’t deal with in the world. You definitely don’t want to mess with Joaquin Guzman.

And news that 94-year-old filmmaker Jack Cardiff has passed away. I’ve got to say that’s an impressive innings.

Day 12 - Today's Total: 31, Overall Total: 486

After a few days out to travel Scotland without radio or internet coverage, I will continue my investigation now.

And we start with a local incident, with two men being held under arrest after shooting dead a man in the back of a car. This report took up four sentences.

BBC News managed to shun a 24-Death incident to its Other News section, as civil unrest in Kenya left two-dozen dead. However, to the BBC’s credit, there was a long and detailed report on the incident.

Occasionally we hear of a tragedy that creates grave evidence for the existence of Sod’s Law. A man fell off a bridge after he had stopped to adjust the straps on his load whilst driving a lorry. He leant back, and was gone.

Reported news on a motorway crash whereby a family of four were killed by some despicable being driving up the wrong way of the motorway. Car Deaths I have noticed aren’t as commonly reported as other, more unusual ones, it seems. However, five people have died not through someone’s intentions, beliefs or prejudices, just their absolute lack of social awareness to realise their actions can risk the lives of others, and the arrogance not to act upon that notion.

Day 11 – Today’s Total: 27, Overall Total: 455

Well it’s always good news when you turn on your computer and see a headline on BBC News of ‘Fire in Polish Hostel Kills 21’. The horrible thing is the report goes into detail of the ‘homeless shelter’ that burnt down. The news was also reported on Radio 5Live, and to be fair they were very respectful when discussing the tragedy.

A man decided to hang off a cliff to pose for a picture, resulting in him plunging to his Death in Devon. This is one of the reasons I absolutely hate cliffs. I have an all-time fear of them due to thinking a clumsy stumble will knock me off the edge. All I can say is, silly man.

Just before bed, I was alerted to the news of a 65-year-old French gunman killing two people in a town near the Belgium boarder. I have to say gun crime seems a lot more prevalent on the continent and in the US than at home.

And of course, the link from the French story led to a report on a Russian serviceman shooting dead three of his comrades in a base in Chechnya. I honestly don’t know what drives someone to do such a thing.

Day 9 – Today’s Total: 21, Overall Total: 428

You will all be arising early looking forward to those easter eggs tomorrow, but take a moment to think about the Death of Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Dave Arneson. Passing away after a two-year battle with cancer is terrible, but is this news really reportable? I am not undermining Mr. Arneson’s value in life in the slightest. All I am saying is that I don’t know why such a story is reported. This is one of the issues I want to figure out during this experiment. Does unnecessary Death news still get reported just because the issue of Death is brought up?

More killings in Iraq, this time a bomber in the Sunni area of Iskandariya, killing nine people. It’s got to the stage now, I think, that bombings in Iraq mean nothing to those who live so far away and have no direct relation to those suffering. It’s just another report on another horrific event which will be repeated tomorrow as it was today, as it was yesterday, and as it has been since the invasion in 2003.

Sky News added this to their ‘News in Brief’ section: a man opened fire in a busy café in Holland whilst a talent contest in a Rotterdam café.

I have to say the strangest stories have come from the USA. This time, a teacher under arrest after kidnapping and killing a Sunday school student and keeping her in a suitcase. It’s just disgusting.

Whilst this was happening in California, five people have been killed in tornadoes in Tennessee and Arkansas. It amazes me how people choose to live in areas where the local weather can be so unpredictable and dangerous. They call the route down through the middle of the US ‘Tornado Valley’, and you can see why.

Current Italian earthquake Death toll: 293. However, it has now gone from the front page of the BBC News website; clearly just another story now.

Day 8 – Today’s Total: 50, Overall Total: 407

I couldn’t complete Day 7 as I was on a trip to Grantham for a G-town piss-up!

I finally get home and log onto the BBC News website. Straight away I see a block of ‘More Top Stories’, all three of which include Deaths of some kind. We had some local news as some poor guy died in a pie factory explosion in Huddersfield. What an utterly random way to go!

Five soldiers have died in Mosul, Iraq, whilst another light aircraft has gone down, killing two people in Hampshire. Light aircrafts seem to drop out of the sky every other week. I don’t understand the reasoning behind the activity, with the potential risk being so tragic.

Heard on the Radio 5Live of a Frenchman being killed by Somalian pirates whilst two of the pirates died themselves. How on earth do we still have pirates scowering the open seas in this age? Surely pirates were wiped out years ago?

Italian earthquake update on BBC News website: 289.

Day 6 – Today’s Total: 54, Overall Total: 357

Well it’s good to know we are clearly appalled by killings… I have just logged onto the Sky News website and found a report on someone being shot in ‘a religious retreat’ in the US. Now, I’ve never heard of a Korean Christian Centre, but I assume they don’t want shootings to be happening in their building. What struck me was not the news on the killing, but the sidebar Sky News had on the left hand side of the article, simply headlined ‘US Shootings Videos’. Great, so we can watch Death and violence all day now.

Update on the Italian earthquake now at 260 fatalities, 53 more than yesterday.

Day 5 - Today’s Total: 60, Overall Total: 303

BBC News quickly dished out the breaking news of people being shot in a German court in Bavaria. How on earth do you sneak a gun into a courtroom? A police spokesman said two had been killed. It still amazes me how you can smuggle a gun into a courtroom.

Later I found a report on BBC News website of police shooting a Palestinian man who tried to run them over. Idiocy springs to mind.

Adding to the terrible news of yesterday’s Italian earthquake, the Death toll has reached 207.

Day 4 – Today’s Total: 188, Overall Total: 243

You wake up. You then whack on the computer and head for your emails. However, before you get to Yahoo Mail, you are told of an earthquake in Italy. Now I’ve studied hazards in Geography, but I’m fairly sure no amount of education can prepare you for the shock of an earthquake at 3:30 in the morning. The current Death toll at the end of this day was at least 150.

Oh and before I forget, was told late last night of the terrible Death of Morgan Tsvangirai’s grandson in a swimming pool. There are very few who can fully emphasise with this man. The other month he lost his wife in a car crash, and now his grandson. How can a man striving to achieve such good have such terrible fate imposed upon him?

Another report from BBC News of a cave roof collapsing on a teenager, who was apparently lighting a fire a 02:15 this morning. It was part of a camping trip in Shropshire. To be fair BBC News are treating the story with respect.

And of course we can’t go a day without a Middle-Eastern tragedy. This time, Sky News reported that 34 people have been killed in car bombs across Baghdad. It’s horrible to think that a city can be subject to such carnage on a daily basis.

Finally, situated glaringly next to the Baghdad report, was a headline on two German’s being killed in Turkey after their drinks had been spiked with methanol.

Day 3 – Today’s Total: 23, Overall Total: 55

Well, I managed to avoid any Death news until 11:25, where Sky News urgently told me of a bomb blast in Islamabad causing 22 fatalities. I had a look on the internet and found that 22 Deaths mustered a worthy 13 sentences in the report.

Just found a short statement on the local BBC News website on a boy passing away in a house fire. I have to say this report is much more objective than they Sky News bulletin I read and watched.

Day 2 – Today’s Total: 26, Overall Total: 32

Well before I went to sleep I was told on the BBC News website of a gunman in New York State killing 13 people and himself. There was even a nice little video for people to watch.

Another BBC News headline caught my eye; ‘Deadly air strike in Pakistan’. Again 13 people killed, but it does seem that numbers are irrelevant in such unstable parts of the world. The amount of fatal news reports we hear every day coming from the Pakistan/Afghanistan region is shocking.

Day 1 – Today’s Total: 6, Overall Total: 6

So this is it. I begin my study into Deaths in the media. (I should mention I shall capitalise all ‘Death’)

Today I was informed of six Deaths. Due to being ‘out and about’ most of the day I was only able to catch glimpses of the media, but this did not stop me immediately being introduced to a story after five minutes of awakening.

Having turned on my laptop I headed for yahoo.com, where I found the headline news bulletin of two people who were shot last night.

And so it began. The next story was told to me as the breaking bulletin on BBC 5-Live, with a man being killed by two youths. The final story was a report on a police inspection over the Deaths of the millionaire who killed him wife and child as well as suicide.

So, no disrespect to the horrible stories that occurred today, but a fairly low total. I must say I did feel aggrieved when I heard about the man and the youths. Maybe my reasoning over being desensitised by Death reports is already faultering?

Let’s see what this month has in store for us…

What this blog is about, and my reasoning behind it

Over the last few days, I have heard numerous reports on the radio, television, internet and newspapers of people dying. Recently a helicopter tragically went down over the North Sea, 19 people died in a horrific football supporter stampede in the Ivory Coast, and the killer of a young boy in London has gladly been sent down.

Death, it seems, is filling our senses. As Joe Public, we cannot escape it. Now I appreciate the fact that Death should be reported just like any other news, and that it is a fact of life, but am I the only one who feels it is 'overly reported'?
I must say at this point my reasoning for this blog is NOT to discredit the work the media does in reporting such terrible events, scenes and stories. However, I do feel that we are being somewhat desensitised by an overflow of continuous Death-related reports.

It seems to me like news on someone dying is just another story. We watch films and programs where people run around with guns, committing vast amounts of killing in order to entertain us. We do not quiver a single lash from our unbattered eyelids when we see someone die on screen now. Of course we know it's fictional, but has this secure knowledge of fantastical loss of life slipped into reality?

How many people do you know die a year? I appreciate this is a very sensitive issue but I have to say I know very few. This is not a boast or any sort of piss-take. I am writing this blog to try and prove a point; that the greatly publicised notion of Death has slipped into a common, almost passive significance for those who receive it through the media, and have no connection with the news they are given.

In order to fully appreciate how much Death is reported to us in our lives, I am going to keep a daily tally on Death-related stories I hear, read and watch over the next month (3rd April to 3rd May). I will not go out of my way to find stories, and will only include ones that are told to me, rather than me rooting through the arse-end of the internet, the 'red button' of the TV, and the 3-inch columns of the newspapers.

My issue is that Death, as news, is given to society now in such a passive manner that it barely registers as 'out of the ordinary'.