I was on my way home the other day, crammed into the Northern underground in London. Those of you who know the London tube, know that rush hour involves millions of tired people, struggling to get into over packed tubes day in day out. People either listen to their iPods, stare trance-like into space or read the free newspapers that are shoved at you when entering tube stations.

I usually don't read the newspapers, preferring to either listen to music or listen to e-books. But its always tempting to peer over at the paper my co-traveler is reading or to see the odd headline. As you can imagine, the free newspaper is much like any other news paper, full of bad news with the odd bit of interesting news scattered around the morbid pages. Well, I was struck by one heading 'Psycho Dad Microwaves His Baby', in big bold letters, with a picture of the 'dad'  being lead off by some people. My very fist reaction, like everyone else I imagine, was one of shock, but only for about a millisecond. Not having the paper right in front of me, gave me the opportunity to ponder over news heading in general. So my second reaction was , Why the hell would anyone actually WANT to read that story?

What exactly is the benefit of having stories about such terrible things? How does knowing that information change the world for a better place. When a newspaper editor chooses what article to print, what exactly goes though their mind? I'm sure it not a case of thinking that people need to know it. Its is, as is obvious, just sensationalism, and the editor knows that that kind of story is what people want.... or is it?

 I wonder, if you ran a poll, if more people would prefer more factual, interesting information in a newspaper? I know that i would prefer articles about science, biology, progress, life skills, philosophy and just plain interesting stories. Now, not everyone would enjoy my selection, but is that not why we have so many different newspapers and magazines - yet they all have the same stories, albeit from a slightly different angle (sometimes).

 I just feel that the trip home on an over packed London tube would be just a bit better if people were not making themselves more miserable by reading the tripe. I do think that the media industry has a huge responsibility and effect on the general public - and so I ask the question  - do we actually need to know that some person microwaved his baby? Surly just the police need to know?