The problem we would then face, however, is that our politicians and political parties now appear to be able to refuse to face scrutiny by mainstream media; relying instead on manipulating small groups of swing voters with targeted micro messaging on social media platforms and of course using their friendly newspaper and TV stations to parrot their message.
If our public service broadcaster should return to facts-only reporting with no editorial stance perhaps our politicians should also be compelled to take part in ânâ interviews and debates during an election campaign.
Lol, citing Iraq as a stick to beat the bbc with You forgotten the fallout when Andrew Gilligan rightly mentioned in passing that Kelly had said that the government knew Saddam had no wmd?
And youâre sidestepping the point. News is only one part of their remit, and I agree that theyâre not getting that right. But what about all the foreign language output, stuff for the elderly, educational programmes, platforms for new artistic and creative output etc, none of which would exist if it had to turn a profit? Like I said, given your oft-expressed political views I am really surprised by your stance on this.
How do you report on a hugely important trial without listening to both sides?
Donât question, donât report, just do as instructed.
This lays bare the undemocratic stenographers for exactly what they are and what this country has become.
âYou have a trial that is of interest to the world, and itâs deliberately put where the world canât see it. You have a mainstream media that turns up to report it, and then doesnât report it. And notably, yesterday, the BBC, the Guardian, ITN, Sky: they were all there yesterday for the prosecution statement; they all left after the prosecution statement. And today it was of course the opening of the defence, so none of them were there at all because they have no interest in the defence; all they were interested in doing was putting the governmentâs case and using it further to smear Julian.â
There seems to have been a coordinated effort in print journalism to get us to keep buying newspapers.
Apparently, advertising has fallen off a cliff, weâre not buying papers and staff are being furloughed or sacked.
I have sympathy for anyone that finds themselves out of work in these tough times, but you can fuck off if youâre asking me to feel for this industry - as it is constructed in our country.
Whilst I recognise that their demise will leave some not held to the scrutiny they should be, this is karma and the sooner the current structure is dismantled the better.
This plea gave me quite a bit of dark pleasure.
Many on Twitter have reminded TND what his paper once said about the âwonderful NHS workersâ.
My issue with all media these days is that it is more opinion than reporting.
Most people are pretty good at forming opinions when presented with actual facts. They donât need to speculate or get Tony from Widnes to comment. Just let me make my mind up.
The other part of the problem is the totally unregulated morass of crap that the twitterati and their ilk pump out, reinforcing inaccuracies and stereotypes .
Iâve kept up my regular ads in the Hampshire Chronicle and Romsey Advertiser. Itâs apathy really, Iâve no idea whether they actually generate any business for me these days, nobody seems to mention them when calling. Itâs always âfound you online.â
Iâve mentioned this before, but when my mateâs German wife comes over here and watches our TV news or reads a newspaper, she cannot believe how much narrative we are supplied with.
Iâm told that in Germany, the news is largely a broadcast of a series of facts.
That we have the facts interpreted for us is not the way news should work.
