Two stories in the media this weekend have reaffirmed my view that very little of the news we see in the papers (well, mostly websites these days) and on tv or hear on the radio can be trusted. Yesterday and today the tabloids were reporting the untimely and violent death of one of my former clients. I won’t name them or link to the story out of respect for the family’s privacy but part of the “human interest” aspect and relevant background of the story was a series of disputes they’d been involved in. The articles chose to focus on something from several years ago while skimming over the much more relevant recent matters, seemingly because rather than interviewing people and doing some actual journalism they were able to hit their word count by doing a copy and paste job from a old local news website. In this example it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things because there’s no great public interest involved, but it very much fits a theme I’ve noticed in newspaper reporting of cases of my own or articles about people I know well where there’s nothing actually untrue but the way the pieces have been written come to a false conclusion and give the reader a totally skewed view of what happened or what an incident or case was really about. And then I read this just now, in which “experts” on the monarchy were royally punked by a couple of pranksters who got them to comment on the content of Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah before they or anyone else had seen it: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...critique-of-meghan-interview-before-seeing-it Naturally most of the comments they made fitted in with the dominant overwhelmingly negative tabloid narrative towards her, much of which in the years running up to her and Harry’s move to the US, amounted to little more than utterly vile bullying to which, given Royal protocol, she had very little ability to reply. Frankly I don’t blame her and Harry for sticking two fingers up to the whole circus and going their own way. Anyway. Just my experience and observations (approx value: twopenn’orth).
It seems far healthier and practical to believe nothing that you read in one paper - or read two with opposite loyalties and only accept what they agree on as being the truth... As I normally read only one, I find it easier to treat them as entertainment and believe nothing!
Never let the truth get in the way of a good headline. They walk the tightrope between marginal truth and slander, as for local rags, it’s clear journalism is not a qualification required nowadays, just a Twitter and Facebook account will do.
Your opening statement says very little of the news cannot be trusted, meaning the majority can be trusted?
Re - Untrustworthy media It's not a new thing . We are spoon-fed the illusion of a free press , just as we are given the delusion of democracy . A bit like Barley Sugar ..... something soothing to suck on when the going gets rough . It goes back at least as far as the history of the printed word , and before that there were Town Criers . The people whose job it is to broadcast news and " facts " have always had a skewed agenda and a vested interest in the careful " editing " of newsworthy information . It was commonplace in WWII , when news of heavy allied losses were suppressed or postponed . In our own times we have the notorious email from one of Blair's lackeys , written and sent on 9/11 " This would be a good day to bury bad news " Some folks hoped that the internet would represent a new age for those seeking truth and facts , but it turned into the exact opposite .... a tidal wave of mindless bilge , conspiracy theories and yes , you guessed it .... " fake news " ( thanks Donald ! ) Think about the various editions of the Bible that have existed ( and why there was more than one ) , and why the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls was potential dynamite . The Wedding Feast at Cana is a good case-study , not least because it involved a public miracle but also the mystery of who was actually getting married , and why it was so vital to conjure up more wine . ( And it only appears in one of the gospels . ) But why mention the bible at all ? Well , Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg is credited as the founding father of the printing press , and what was he relentlessly printing that turned out to be the Golden Goose ?
In short, no. My light bulb was Victoria Derbyshire bbc prog when they weee reporting on Allepo and it’s no food, water, electricity yet spent 10 min talking about some 9 yr old who was tweeting pictures and commentary....they even said at the beginning of the piece ‘we haven’t validated this’ then plugged on with fact-type statements anyway. Edited. Apparently you can’t disagree or criticise or face court action.
@Zhed46 BTW - I abstained from the poll .... A democratic right ( allegedly ) .... but that very much depends on which " democracy " one lives in . In some countries 99% turn-out is not unusual , and often with the winner getting 99% of the votes !
What do you expect when the right controls the media. I pay no heed to any of it. Its all about scare tactics and turning one group against another. Its all about furthering some agenda or another for sales. Theres no such thing as journalism. Esp when that parasite Murdoch controls so much of what you read or hear. Then you have the Mail, what an odious and vile publication that is. Anyone who reads that has nothing but my contempt. You're part of the problem. The left wing media is just as bad. But in differing ways. Its all rage tactics. Just different angles. I could not give one shit about the current royal hoo ha. Oooh privileged white guy marries slightly black lady and gives interview to super wealthy black lady about how slightly less privileged they are now because their babies may be tanned. Oh nos, he may not get a title. Fuck right off. Mixed couples mostly just get on with their lives loving each other and not caring too much about consequences. Its about love and thats the way it should be. Racism is abhorrent, yet here we are in the 21st century acting like we are all still in the dark ages (no pun intended). If people simply stopped reacting in fear to what they do not understand and just reacted with friendly curiosity instead, theyd be amazed how the fear of the unknown dissipates. Plus you make new friends and new experiences. Then we have the LGBGT stuff. These people have been repressed for generations. Now theyre sampling the freedom to be themselves. Its going to be overbearing for a decade, but thats our fault for repressing them. Suck it up (again no pun intended) The alternative is a homogenous and grey society where everyone thinks and looks the same. Creativity is lost. Its all the differences we have that make us interesting. BTW, I have no problem with 'normal' conservatives. Its just they seem as in short supply as 'normal' liberals. Everything seems to have been forced out in to the extremes. We should be asking why this is. We are being used as pawns to further the agendas of people and organisations. Ultimately it is us who suffer, it is we who pay the price. We all, conservatives and liberals, need to come together to stop this now. Fuck The System.
Our local media seems to copy and paste from social media, with little or no research. Articles written by the so called journalists, are so grammatically poor, they would not pass a year 3 sats test.
Truth is we're a divided world now. I read the BBC news daily and it gets tackier by the day. It's on a par with the Daily Mail now with click bait shite. Getting accurate and politically unbiased news nowadays is practically impossible I'd say. People read and believe what they like to read and believe.
I'm afraid there'd be too many swear words. People get offended by swearing, yet will happily condone hatred, bigotry and oppression as long as its someone else.
