Wednesday, 16 March 2011

And what is wrong with the internet as a source of news?

Olly Grender, writing in the New Statesman and posing the question "Can anyone give a good reason why ministers should bother reading commentary in newspapers?":
"Take the example of a friend who is now a minister. I asked him recently how he was dealing with the media onslaught about the Lib Dems. He explained that he quickly cancelled the doorstep of paper waiting on his desk each morning. He asked instead to only receive the most important ones from his private office. On inquiring how much his personal set of cuttings cost, he was told it was £5,000 per annum. In total, that is over half a million for all members of the government."
Knowing that politicians like nothing better than seeing their names and photographs in print, this waste of half a million pounds at a time of supposed austerity does lead one to enquire whether members of the government are without internet access? Plus, using the internet they might just stumble across a few blogs and learn something to their benefit!

Just saying.........................

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If they came across some of the excellent blogsites online, yours among them (flattery, sorry) then their eyes might open up and as they'd read something truthful as well as popular opinion, that would destroy the deception the lobby groups and fakecharities have been telling them. So that's why it will never happen. In order to carry on with what they're doing thus far, it requires constant lies and deception, including self-deception, 24/7/365 or else their beliefs might be broken and shatter their totalitarian system.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

A: Thank you for your kind flattery!

Seriously, You are unfortunately corrected in your analysis - and we have to pay for their self-deception!

TomTom said...

Ministers are paid enough to buy their own newspapers

WitteringsfromWitney said...

TT: There is that, yes, even more so if the only reason for the cost is to see themselves in print!