Newswipe with Charlie Brooker - Season 2 Episode 1

Brooker discusses how the news media always needs to develop a narrative of fear in any topic, from the Nuclear threat, Salmonella in eggs, to Acid house music and the Millennium Bug, by emphasising worst-case scenarios frequently in the face of more reasonable, scientific evidence. Canadian journalist Dan Gardner and US stand-up comedian Doug Stanhope contributed pieces on a similar theme, from the perspective of their respective countries. The central segment focused on the Christmas pants bomb attempt, as did a poem from Tim Key. The final segment examined the media's overblown reaction to Britain's unexpected "Big Freeze".