Clytie Siddall is correct; news and current affairs programs have become products which are packaged to attract the magpie mind. However this has always been true, the media has simply become better and more efficient at giving people what they want. Like any other industry consumers vote with their feet (or remote control) therefore this problem will never be solved as long consumers are willing to put up with, and even encourage, shallow and biased reporting.

Faster news cycles and pressure to be first with breaking news are definitely part of the problem , but also long-standing political commentators who have more time to consider still seem to be as poll- driven as the politicians they criticise.

But is this what some media organizations really want to create and support? Or have news and current affairs become a "product" which is "packaged" to attract the magpie mind?