Current Affairs the British Press thread

[tsubaki]

Thought it might be an idea to have a running thread where examples of the state of British journalism can be collected for posterity.

This was prompted by seeing this tweet:



The background is apparently that this lady lived with him for several years, they had a child together they were raising *and* they were due to get married, but he died (from cancer). Why is it spun they way it was by all the papers?

Crouch appears from all reports to have been a fundamentally decent sort who helped loads of charities, people and even Southampton FC itself. He was looking after his daughter when he was alive, but because her mum had to go to court to get this recognised she is somehow not entitled to get this?

 

[dead_soft]

'Wife of deceased man inherits his wealth' doesn't cut the same way for them when it's the lower classes.

See also this gem

 

[john jako]

Are there any good press?

 

[Martin Alvito]

Thought it might be an idea to have a running thread where examples of the state of British journalism can be collected for posterity.

This was prompted by seeing this tweet:



The background is apparently that this lady lived with him for several years, they had a child together they were raising *and* they were due to get married, but he died (from cancer). Why is it spun they way it was by all the papers?

Crouch appears from all reports to have been a fundamentally decent sort who helped loads of charities, people and even Southampton FC itself. He was looking after his daughter when he was alive, but because her mum had to go to court to get this recognised she is somehow not entitled to get this?

That looks to me like someone with an axe to grind dropped the details and spin at the three worst muckraking papers you have, and all three editors said, "Yup, our readers will love this one."

It's as much a commentary on the readers of those papers as the papers themselves. Those papers run stories the editors think will get people to pick it up, or keep picking it up. Of course, today that's more getting people to click on the story than pick up a physical paper.

The editors didn't fact check because they didn't want to fact check. They were given an easy story that would sell. To be blunt about it, your story doesn't sell as well. "Greedy golddigger has love child, then absconds with portion of multi-millionaire's fortune" sells better than "Deceased multimillionaire's fiance wins portion of his fortune for love child". The former headline plays better into the storylines the media has already created. Many people love seeing the rich get taken down a peg or two, and everyone already knows a greedy golddigger or three.

That doesn't make it right, but it's why it happens.

Are there any good press?

I've found your state-run press to be a lot more trustworthy when covering events over here than ours is. It doesn't follow that you or I should fully trust it when it covers affairs in your own country.

 

[dead_soft]

That looks to me like someone with an axe to grind dropped the details and spin at the three worst muckraking papers you have, and all three editors said, "Yup, our readers will love this one."

It's as much a commentary on the readers of those papers as the papers themselves. Those papers run stories the editors think will get people to pick it up, or keep picking it up. Of course, today that's more getting people to click on the story than pick up a physical paper.

The editors didn't fact check because they didn't want to fact check. They were given an easy story that would sell. To be blunt about it, your story doesn't sell as well. "Greedy golddigger has love child, then absconds with portion of multi-millionaire's fortune" sells better than "Deceased multimillionaire's fiance wins portion of his fortune for love child". The former headline plays better into the storylines the media has already created. Many people love seeing the rich get taken down a peg or two, and everyone already knows a greedy golddigger or three.

That doesn't make it right, but it's why it happens.



I've found your state-run press to be a lot more trustworthy when covering events over here than ours is. It doesn't follow that you or I should fully trust it when it covers affairs in your own country.

Assuming you're talking about the BBC - it's not a state-run organisation and it's an important distinction to make.

 

[Martin Alvito]

Assuming you're talking about the BBC - it's not a state-run organisation and it's an important distinction to make.

State-funded, then. Fair shout, but I'd argue it has about as much independence as the United States Postal Service given its dependence on the government for funding. The government can always tweak the license fee, or its willingness to subsidize it. That threat confers leverage over content (ie: which news stories run and which don't, since opinion pieces are banned), with the structure and norms merely limiting the degree to which the government can meddle.

The setup renders the BBC something rather more than a pure government propaganda arm, which is what you are getting at, but less independent than a truly technocratic government agency such as the Federal Reserve. That one enjoys very substantial, but not 100% effective protections from government meddling. The BBC has about as good a setup as you're going to get for doing things that way. Free-market media like ours brings a different set of problems to the table, namely its sources of funding. Either way, it's important to know what the slant is.

 

[tsubaki]

err....

 

[PaddyJames]

The Daily Mail have constant articles about Meghan Markle or her friends knowing the racist royal lovers will all be in a rage that she even exists. Anyone who comes out with anything decent (They call it woke) gets articles posted about them. Racist [Poor language removed]-stirring scum

 

[ste d' indica]

Waste of trees.

 

[AsiaAsia82]

BBC is run by Twitter loving snowflakes.
Who cares if someone farts on Twitter?
There’s more important issues in this country that are never reported.

 

[dead_soft]

BBC is run by Twitter loving snowflakes.
Who cares if someone farts on Twitter?
There’s more important issues in this country that are never reported.

What do you mean by snowflakes? And what would you like reported on?

 

[AsiaAsia82]

What do you mean by snowflakes? And what would you like reported on?

People who are offended by anyone.
Lack of opportunity for young people and the level of crime in inner cities.
Abuse/ignoring the elderly and failure to provide a suitable care system.
Impact on the environment of new housing developments whilst inner city brown sites are ignored.
Failure to provide cost effective public transport and rail links.
NHS not being run correctly at a senior level
Exploitation by energy companies who claim renewable energy but keep hiking prices
Failure to fund basic safe and reliable equipment to the armed forces whilst spending billions on useless aircraft carriers

really anything that might upset big business

 

[dead_soft]

People who are offended by anyone.
Lack of opportunity for young people and the level of crime in inner cities.
Abuse/ignoring the elderly and failure to provide a suitable care system.
Impact on the environment of new housing developments whilst inner city brown sites are ignored.
Failure to provide cost effective public transport and rail links.
NHS not being run correctly at a senior level
Exploitation by energy companies who claim renewable energy but keep hiking prices
Failure to fund basic safe and reliable equipment to the armed forces whilst spending billions on useless aircraft carriers

really anything that might upset big business

I'm not sure I've seen BBC News acting offended?

Lack of opportunity for young people and the level of crime in inner cities.- https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nwnc/the-lost-boys
Abuse/ignoring the elderly and failure to provide a suitable care system - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56901218 // https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56904991
Impact on the environment of new housing developments whilst inner city brown sites are ignored - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57738681
Failure to provide cost effective public transport and rail links - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-58005194 // https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55323345
NHS not being run correctly at a senior level - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hr3y
Exploitation by energy companies who claim renewable energy but keep hiking prices - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58106105
Failure to fund basic safe and reliable equipment to the armed forces whilst spending billions on useless aircraft carriers - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56386446

I'm not by any stretch saying the BBC is a perfect organisation or that I agree with all of the ways they report or what they report but everything you mentioned is quite clearly covered by them and it didn't take long to find content at least touching upon every single issue you mentioned. Did you try to find the information previously?

 

[AsiaAsia82]

I'm not sure I've seen BBC News acting offended?

Lack of opportunity for young people and the level of crime in inner cities.- https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nwnc/the-lost-boys
Abuse/ignoring the elderly and failure to provide a suitable care system - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56901218 // https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56904991
Impact on the environment of new housing developments whilst inner city brown sites are ignored - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57738681
Failure to provide cost effective public transport and rail links - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-58005194 // https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55323345
NHS not being run correctly at a senior level - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hr3y
Exploitation by energy companies who claim renewable energy but keep hiking prices - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58106105
Failure to fund basic safe and reliable equipment to the armed forces whilst spending billions on useless aircraft carriers - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56386446

I'm not by any stretch saying the BBC is a perfect organisation or that I agree with all of the ways they report or what they report but everything you mentioned is quite clearly covered by them and it didn't take long to find content at least touching upon every single issue you mentioned. Did you try to find the information previously?

I take your point, but is that really balanced in its exposure? Does it prioritise those over Twitter spats?
IMO I think it’s becoming more ‘expose’ than what is required, highlighting more serious issues.

 

[dead_soft]

I take your point, but is that really balanced in its exposure? Does it prioritise those over Twitter spats?
IMO I think it’s becoming more ‘expose’ than what is required, highlighting more serious issues.

So you don't want them to do exposes? It feels you want to believe the BBC prioritise Twitter spats so that's what you see? What Twitter spats have been big on BBC News recently?

The problem, it seems, is that you would rather make stuff up than check what's actually true.