Thursday 4 August 2011

Why the MSM can never be trusted

Richard North, EU Referendum, homes in on the recent 'IE hoax' and the resultant 'mea cuplas' issued. Writing that:
".... if you have prestige, your word is accepted – no one will question it. That is why the MSM produces so much unmitigated rubbish, and why it will continue to get caught out - it peddles prestige, not facts."
is why politicians  maintain their exalted position in our society - they have an MSM in their pocket, one that regurgitates their unmitigated rubbish by means of the 'art' of 'cut 'n paste'.

Just another thought.........

11 comments:

A K Haart said...

I tend to lay the blame at the door of the BBC much more than the rest of the MSM.

The BBC has the resources and surely the ethical duty to check and check again.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

AKH: I appreciate there is a saying that size matters - however if one is in the field of news output then regardless of size 'check and check again' must be the rule.

Trooper Thompson said...

The BBC will always be pro-state. It cannot help itself.

LJH said...

It starts in class 1 where any crap is rewarded. To praise excellence, accuracy, insight is regarded as elitist, so the feeblest effort is rewarded. Science syllabi are stuffed with trendy factoids, history is taught without continuity, physical geography seems to have vanished, English no longer has grammar punctuation or spelling...and yet mysteriously we expect accuracy news reporting when the products of this system have grown up? Welcome to postmodern journalism where opinion routinely precedes any rendering of facts and self criticism is unthinkable.

TomTOm said...

postmodern journalism where opinion routinely precedes any rendering of facts and self criticism is unthinkable.

Well said !


My favourite omission is Urban Heat Island in preference to "Global" Warming....that concrete in place of grass raises humidity in temperate regions

The Gray Monk said...

Spot on. I gave up watching BBC News during the Blair regime - 55 minutes of fawning over the nonentities in his cabinet and their poodles, four minutes of regional trivia and one minute of world news such as "a volcano blew up and wiped out Gitchegumeee Island killing a million and the tsunami is expected to wipe out more island nations. And that is the end of the news."

The MSM are so parochial and so biased they cannot separate truth from fiction any longer.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

Trooper T, Tom T, LJH & TGM:

Well said all. Only one query on the statement:

"postmodern journalism where opinion routinely precedes any rendering of facts and self criticism is unthinkable."

Opinion? Very few offer an opinion - AEB and Christopher Booker excepted - most journalists just cut 'n paste.

cosmic said...

I viewed the IE twaddle in the same light as the health rubbish that fills much of the newspapers and seems to be there to fill a need for entertainment of some sort. You know the sort of thing, "Cucumbers the new superfood, some scientists believe eating cucumbers wards off breast cancer.......". Three weeks later, "Danger lurking in your salad, cucumbers have been linked to depression and suicide....".

Very little thought or questioning goes into writing these things, it's clear a lot of people are fascinated by popular health stories and celebrity nonsense, but almost no one takes it seriously.

The problem is that it's crept into other things such as CAGW, with the papers doing mindless cheerleading.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

cosmic: Agreed!

TomTom said...

WfW. Opinion is concealed in the presentation of facts....what did the man once say. "Opinion is free, facts are sacred" but the MSM today skews the facts to conceal the opinion

WitteringsfromWitney said...

tom Tom: I know, I know......but you do not begrudge me a little rant.....?