10 People Whose Lives Were Completely Ruined By The Media
Free media is a fundamental characteristic of an open society. Without freedom of speech, all other freedoms tend to wither and die. But there is another side to the coin: The media is made up of people, and people make mistakes. In some cases, those mistakes include accusing innocents of the most heinous crimes, subjecting them to trials of public opinion alongside those taking place in courthouses. The influence of the misguided media can ruin an innocent person’s life, put them in jail, or even kill them.
10Robert Murat
Life was good for this British property consultant. He lived comfortably in southern Portugal, enjoying his work, the mild climate, decent prices, and delicious food. Then, the story about the disappearance of little Madeleine McCann swept the globe, and the notoriously sensationalistic English tabloids smelled blood Murat’s, to be precise.
a-
One of my neighbors has a
front yard in the same condition. Passing by as I walked my dog, I saw the lady of the house doing gardening work among the blooms. I greeted her with: A host, of golden daffodils!
She called my hand and raised: Beside the lake, beneath the trees … We finished the stanza in unison. Bless my literate neighbors.
Is Daffodils the best-known poem in our language? I d be happy to think so: it s a gem of a poem.
Thirty years ago the British radio station Classic FM asked listeners to name their favorite poems. They ranked the top hundred poems named, then published a set of cassette tapes (remember cassette tapes?) of actors reading them. Daffodils was number one, read by actress Sandra Duncan.