There seems to be a point missed here. How many earth shattering headlines have we seen lately? That's right - None. So the media need something to sell papers and get us watching the news. So they take a story and explode it to massive proportions. There's a saying in the reporting world. 'If there's no news make it.' Next time there's no fantastic event making headlines, look at whatever is the main story and ask 'Would this be such a shocking story if a major disaster had occurred?' The advantage of this sort of story is that it can run and run - until something significant hits the headlines.