I despise sensational reporting at the best of times and try and avoid it where I can. I don't read crap papers like The Sun and the Daily Mirror for this exact reason, and often rely on the BBC for their account of the news.

However, I think they're starting to slide down the slippy sensationalism slide in journalism - especially in their article titles.

Take England's drubbing by Australia in The Ashes for example. We all know that England played like a bunch of school boys and really didn't seem to put too much effort into it. It's not really surprising as I'd like to go to Australia for a jolly to play cricket too.

Naturally, as with any competitive sport these days, the relevant governing body wants some answers as to why the form was so poor so as to prevent it from occurring in the future, and the ECB is no different. They've initiated a review into...

... how Team England performances during the period 2003-7 should be improved in order that England regain the Ashes in 2009 and win an ICC Global One-Day Event during the period 2007-11. [Source: ECB]

What a good idea, however I think they really should be a bit more optimistic - surely they want to win more than ONE "ICC Global One-Day Event" in the next two years. I know SA and Australia wouldn't settle for just one win.

Anyway, back to the topic. Now the above seems quite reasonable, and the topic of discussion is very much about the future. The ECB titled their news article appropriately: "ECB initiates review". Now compare that to the Beeb's title for the exact same story: "Sorry England start Ashes inquest".

Where the hell did the BBC get the idea an inquest was going to be held? Neither their article, nor the ECB's article even mention an investigation into the poor performance in The Ashes. This is just pure attention seeking - sensationalism.