Newspapers - Whose Truth Do They Tell?

[Billy_Dean]

"There is no such thing as a free press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who would dare to write his honest opinion. The business of the journalist is to destroy truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell himself, his country, and his race, for his daily bread. We are tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are jumping jacks; they pull our strings, we dance; our talents, our possibilities, and our lives are the property of these men. We are intellectual prostitutes."
John Swinton, Journalist of the New York Times (circa 1880)


That was written 123 years ago, how do you see the press now?

[J'Pol]

How do you see the press now Billy.

It's sort of a tradition to start these things with your own opinion then invite others to express theirs.

Other than Shared Holder who sees interesting things and posts them here for others to talk about.

[Rat Faced]

Not a lot has changed Billy....

[Billy_Dean]

I don't really have a strong opinion on newspapers JP, as I don't read them.

I purposely chose the above quote because it was 123 years old.

I've heard many people mention the press, and press bias in particular, I saw this as a chance for them to voice their opinions, not share mine.




Edit: spelling.

[james_bond_rulez]

i dont read newspaper man

i am zen

[clocker]

Originally posted by Billy_Dean@11 October 2003 - 05:39
"There is no such thing as a free press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who would dare to write his honest opinion.

I thought that the duty of the journalist was to report the news, not offer his opinion.
Although newspapers are money-making entities (in theory, at least), I don't worry too much about their deferring to corporate masters although I'm sure that there are examples aplenty of that very thing occuring.
More worrisome is the amalgamation of media outlets. When the same company owns radio, television AND newspaper companies, then the range of viewpoint and coverage becomes restricted and homogeonized.

[billyfridge]

Sadly, the press are gagged on both sides of the atlantic. we are spoonfed on a need to know basis, (only what they need us to know) particularly recent WMD
exaggerations. we don't do anything about it except gripe to our mates. they blame the press for the poor Brit scientist commiting suicide. we all know the bastard fat cat polititions drove him to it. We had an enquiry, what happened
as a result F--k all I don't blame the press at all, their hands are tied, and i can't see them ever coming untied.
PS I see i've become a newcomer again with only 2 posts thanks guys

[J'Pol]

Originally posted by Billy_Dean@11 October 2003 - 16:10
I don't really have a strong opinion on newspapers JP, as I don't read them.

I purposely chose the above quote because it was 123 years old.

I've heard many people mention the press, and press bias in particular, I saw this as a chance for them to voice their opinions, not share mine.

What a strange thing to say.

[j2k4]

The press's hands are certainly not tied, and the press is not gagged, either.

To say so is foolish-no one who reads them would say so unless that person were of the "conspiracy theorist" stripe.

To answer Billy's query, I would say that in these last 123 years, very little has changed.

Edit: response

[Biggles]

Newspapers have conflicting interests.

There are the views of the owner, the views of the editor and the views of the journalist. They may align or a story may be some horrible hybrid as it goes through the mill of all combined.

I have to say, any story I have read that I had first hand experience of were of such a distortion that they only broadly corresponded to the event. Anyone I have discussed this with has generally reported similar experiences. Consequently, I tend to view any newspaper article as an indication that something happened. It is only by listening to radio, tv and a variety of other sources that even an reasonably approximate guess can be made with regards to the actuality of anything.

Newpapers, in particular, are prone to circulation wars and the need for sensationalist scoops is usually high. Sometimes they get it wrong. Murdoch's Sun has made a number of boobs - notably, recently, their headline regarding Bruno which was hastily withdrawn on the second edition and followed up the next day by a bit of "we love Bruno please don't stop buying our paper" crawling.

In short, I buy the paper (Glasgow Herald) that scratches the itch of my political leanings, but keep a healthy scepticism regarding the veracity of any article I read in it.

So, Billy, I think the quote is as good today as it was 123 years ago.