Keeping up with the news...

It's been one of those weeks.
Story after story knocking the previous one off the "top spot".
Sometimes, it feels like news hangs around too long, a story is dragged out and we know every tiny detail possible and that can really be pretty yucky.
This week however it seems like we've been rushed, one thing to the next and what was the top story may not even feature in the next bulletin.
Particularly it was the Philippines that made me feel that. Lots of devastation, lots of need, lots of horribleness and then it was totally gone from the news - not just from the headlines but the whole news as first the tsunami and then the other earthquakes took over. And then the distinctly unsavoury more local news.
So what is my point? I don't know. I "felt bad" that the Philippines were being forgotten. I "felt bad" that they weren't getting the attention any more. But is it right or wrong? Or neither? I find the obsession that comes with some stories far worse because it doesn't seem to be healthy or helpful but in this case I feel that if the headlines are gone too quickly then will people be less likely to give money or time or whatever to helping.
Since being nasty to the Oxfam man, I've been thinking a lot and wondering a lot about what the nation as a whole does in terms of giving time and money to whatever cause it might be. Do "chuggings" (have you heard of that? can't remember where I heard it, "charity muggings" - the ones who stop you in the street) or door knockers stand the only chance of getting donations from most people? Or what about the often horrendous NSPCC adverts? Do people need to be properly shocked?
I wasn't intending to start going into that yet as I'm still pondering. Hmm...