You remember those suspect terrorists, arrested in Plymouth after one of them was caught apparently spraying graffiti?

Three men and two women, who were thought to be political activists, were taken into police custody on Friday after police officers discovered imitation weapons, fireworks and political literature during a search of a flat in Plymouth.

Bet you didn’t hear that they were also released without charge, though.

Yep. That’s 422 reports of the arrest, 10 of the release. Only 3 news organisations reported the releases, and all of them as local news.

If we don’t start caring about the other end of this kind of story, then we run the risk of reinforcing paranoid overreaction. The public hears about all these suspect terrorists being arrested; in the absence of any information to the contrary, the terrorist threat seems ever more present, and the disproportionate response is never seen for what it is.

Well, you know now. What are you going to do about it?