The media.

I'd never really given a thought to the way the media makes us view things or people, but I watched something today that really made me think about it.

Now I don't know if any of you have seen Orange UnsignedAct, but for those of you who don't know it's basically the credible version of an X Factor-style thing: the only rule is that artists must write and perform their OWN songs. Now, I recorded it to watch today, and one thing about it really annoyed me.

There's a young lad in the competition called Dan Scotty. He's very good, but they wanted them to do acoustic performances, which he really doesn't do and so left the competition. Okay, I was kind of sad that my favourite had gone out, but these things happen and it was a very close contest. The thing that really annoyed me, however, was how the show was edited. I saw Dan for the first time this summer, and he was a really nice, genuine guy, who was a little shy but very friendly. I had a really good night (despite getting tinnitus from standing too close to the speaker!), and it always makes things better when the person you've been to see is happy to stand around and chat afterwards. However, the clips used in the show were edited in such a way to make him look arrogant, selfish, and a generally unpleasant character. This could not be further from the truth, and it really wound me up that some bloke sat in an office somewhere thought he had the right to twist the public's conceptions of a person so shamelessly. If he really was that kind of person, then sure, but having met him and knowing that this is not true, I felt... well, I'm not really sure of the word. Violated? Disgusted?

It's the sort of thing I expect from the tabloids, but a low-key show aiming to find REAL talent? A low blow, that's for sure.