News for me, news for you

The BBC's end-of-year round up of top news stories on the website over 2003 makes for interesting reading. While hard news, in the shape of Iraq, was firmly top of the news pops, the kinds of stories that visitors emailed to their friends were altogether different: talking apes, talking fish, pregnant boys and a range of out-of-this-world events. Maybe this indicates that while we have in no sense been 'dumbed down' when it comes to worldy concerns, we'd rather avoid the hard stuff when communicating with friends.