Tabloid Pressure Groups
Posted: June 26th, 2006 | Author: Aaron | Filed under: media, scandal, uk |One of the less obvious effects of the Internet is that newspapers are no longer a useful source of ‘news’. This means that the broadsheets are now bulging with commentary and columnists. The tabloids, while always a haven for opinionated fuckwits such as Richard Littlejohn, are now looking to become campaigning pressure groups which will further the interests of their proprietors. Yeah, yeah, I know that they have always been mouthpieces for their owners, and that they have always been capable of witch-hunt journalism, but has anyone else noticed the changing, emboldened campaigning nature of the modern British tabloid?
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Spot on description of Littlejohn. I can’t abide him.
The gutter press editors award themselves the role of accuser, judge and jury to any and every piece of sensationalist news without any regard to their obligations to report responsibly and ethically. Circulation figures are what matter most to them. It’s just a shame that so many readers fall for it.
You’re probably right to suggest they’re getting bolder - perhaps in order to compete with the internet.
I’m re-reading Christopher Hitchens “Orwell’s Victory”…
“He (Orwell)…analysed the temptation among intellectuals to adapt themselves to power…” (Page 112 - ‘The List’).
Mmmmm…and non-intellectual editors with powerful owners.
“Rupert, Rupert the Bear…”. That tune has just come into my head. I wonder why ?
I had always thought, Symonds, that intellectuals were always tempted to adapt power to their thoughts.
Bears are, if not molested, pacific animals. They are omnivorous and they hibernate if well fed. And I bet they don’t meddle with anybody else’s lives.
Do you think Murdoch’s parents named him after the bear?