Panorama

For a long time I’ve disliked the sensationalism of the BBC Panorama programme, but this sloppy finish to a serious article on the BBC website really takes the biscuit:

In the end, as Operation Kratos reached its deadly final act, it turned into a Greek tragedy like its eponymous name.

What on earth were they thinking? Of course its name is eponymous!

As they said at the beginning, Cratos “comes from the ancient Greek meaning might, power or strength.” (To be precise, Cratos was a Greek god who was the personification of Force or Might*.) Not a Greek play, then, tragic or otherwise.

In sloppy journalist land, if it’s Greek it’s a tragedy, if it’s sad it must be tragic, and every article has to end with a stupid throwaway sting.

*Stewart, Michael. "People, Places & Things: Cratos", Greek Mythology: From the Iliad to the Fall of the Last Tyrant.

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