It's A-level results day - cue flashbacks for everyone over 18. We all remember when it was us enduring that heart-stopping envelope moment. It never ceases to amaze me that people are prepared to open said envelope live on the television.
As "a grown-up", it's easy to be cynical. Never mind the annually rehearsed "have exams got easier" debate, as a journalist there are other reasons to complain from a professional point of view. It feels like bad practice to write the same thing, use the same pictures, shoot the same footage every single year - there must be innovative ways we could cover this story, breathe new life into the format. Also, judging by the media coverage you'd imagine that only gorgeous blonde girls do well in their A-levels - and that twins and triplets are far more common than birth statistics would suggest. I vividly remember being in the newsroom of my old paper on A-level results day and hearing the picture editor - male of course - shout out very loudly: "Oh yes, we've got triplets and they're fit!"
But all of this griping aside, I'm totally, definitely, 100% in agreement with this article by Fleet Street Fox - an anonymous and very funny London reporter. She writes about how tough it is for girls and women all over the world - and in the UK for that matter - and therefore, why we should suspend our cyncism on today of all days. She says: "Don't get het up about pictures of young girls who are happy, who by and large and with a following wind will be able to have long and fulfilled lives in which they can do (almost) whatever they want. Just be angry there aren't more of them."
No comments:
Post a Comment