Recently I undertook a thoroughly engaging and enriching - don't worry there won't be much of this cheesy mush... of course there will be that is my strapline! Richie: Lots of cheesy mush! - News Associates journalism session where we got a taste of what journalists are faced with on a day to day basis.
We were shown what to look for in articles to make them appealing and eye catching to the public, how important scrupulous and meticulous details are before ending with a news room scenario.The more I listened and watched the more I learned about the cut throat nature of the printed press and how the state of apathy, not empathy ruled supreme.
Appalled is too strong a word but I was certainly rather disheartened about how newspapers respond to news.
Most news is negative, that is what grabs the headlines. The ongoing crisis in Syria, expenses scandals, critics of the police to name but a few. An endless multitude of negativity and the realisation of how flawed a race we truly are.
The ocean, like news, can be an unforgiving and cruel mistress. Positivism is drowned by habitual skepticism and ill feeling in the sweltering, unrelenting desert.
But every now and again the helpless, flailing man kicks hard to grab onto the fast escaping lifebuoy of hope.
Treasure these rare moments - like the Chilean Miner Crisis - for they are fleeting and a mere whisper of them can be lost in the wind.
This is not enough. Good news is so few and far between I don't want to dive into that icy cold abyss.
But there is hope. That hope is sport. Sport is the light.
Here you can not only analyse such sunlit perfection, you can bask in its warmth and splendour.
"ENGLAND WIN THE WORLD CUP!"
"ANDY MURRAY WINS WIMBLEDON!"
"GOLD FOR TEAM GB!"
"NICK GRIFFIN IS DEPORTED! - No wait sorry got carried away there, wishful thinking.
Even in England's Ashes humiliation, on the opposite side of the coin Australia are celebrating their well earned triumph. Bad news for one is good news for another!
Sport however frequently weaves its own webs of controversy, criticism and corruption with drug scandals, match fixing and poor role models, so it is not exactly squeaky clean but sport is a spectacle and a wonderfully enjoyable one at that.The London 2012 Olympics illustrates this point so much more beautifully and eloquently than I can muster through words.
A nation forgot all its troubles and cares to unite under one banner. A harmonic celebration where we rejoiced with one another through the wonderful world of sport.
This is what I want to do. It may not be as important as curing the sick, or building bridges (literally and figuratively) or educating the minds of tomorrow but I know sport's positives and there are many.
I'm a positive person on the whole and on the whole I want my job to be positive as well, wouldn't you?
On an unrelated note, thank you to my five (now six, whoop whoop!) followers who have stuck with me through morbidly obese (thick) and cycling training svelte (thin).
