Believing newspapers?

[Chaddy]

Over the years i have tried ( in vane sometimes ) to persuade members on here NOT to believe all what is printed in newspapers ( or worse still the BBC )
How about this one...In the Times yesterday was a headline..." RECOVERY CONTINUES AS ECONOMY GROWS FOR THIRD MONTH " ..Fantastic i was over the moon

Then i picked up the Daily Mail and read a headline "JOBS BLOODBATH COULD BE WORSE THAN THE 1980s"

I still have some business interests in the UK so which i should believe

[Dominic]

Who's to say either headline is wrong? One is an observation, the other is a prediction.

[Devil]

I agree with Dominic! Apart from that, you have to notice which newspaper says what. Unfortunately, there is no UK newspaper that is reliable with its reporting. The Times used to be before it was taken over, but even that has gone down the drain by publishing more opinion and less news. So, everything published in the papers has to be sprinkled with a little bit of salt and not taken literally. Remember also that each paper has some degree of affiliation with a political party, so that every single one of them has a bias, usually consistent with their affiliation.

The only news source that is reasonably politically balanced is the BBC (for UK news only). For American news, it tends to be slightly left of centre. On the whole, the BBC's correspondents and specialists have to be politically neutral or as close as possible to it. This is a part of its charter and it will give equal coverage to both governmental and anti-governmental sources, in proportion to their volumes (of course, the government spouts more volume than the opposition, because that is their job.). If you do not believe me, just think back a couple of months to the reports that have raised criticism which has been considered as biased. Of course, the personnel in the BBC are only human and mistakes do happen when either the government or the opposition are badly reported.

[Jimgward]

Chaddy, the growth they refer to is about 6% from a very low level. Furlough finished next month and hundreds of thousands will lose their jobs at the end of it. Companies have kept people on, as they haven't been paying. However, when you have people out of the business for more than 6 months, the chances of needing them dimities, therefore huge unemployment. I could have predicted this 6 months ago. So nothing clever.

You have a real downer on the BBC/ Do you watch Channel 4 news - much more less bias. Although, the BBC bias, in my opinion, is government-supporting bias.

[Jimgward]

As Devil says, the BBC is pretty neutral. I actually think that the political programmes, like Question Time, is very right-wing and supporting of Brexit, through the years.

[Devil]

Question Time is not really political, although the questions asked frequently are. They nearly always have a leading Conservative and a , leading Labour speaker on the panel, often also a "sitting on the fence" politician and I doubt whether it is possible to have a really biased panel. As a general rule, the speakers each have roughly the same time to spout forth their views.

If you consider that the programme is "very right-wing", may it not be because that a particular Conservative politician puts his point of view forward much more effectively than the Labour one "or vice versa". What is interesting with this program is that the audience is selected and seated according to their self-declared political allegiance and is not necessarily fairly balanced (political activists will lie through their teeth to be seated in the right place!).

[Jimgward]

No, the bias is in the audience, which is generally right-leaning overall. That was also seen to be pro-brexit and pro-conservative in many areas

There have been 'repeat' audience participation from activists as you say - where the producers have allowed vociferous viewpoints back on - who then get selected for questions or views

[Kili01]

For supposedly unbiased reporting have you tried the Observer? They say they are not affiliated with any political party and can report independently also The Manchester Guardian.
Why limit your views to what the Daily Mail, Express, Times and Telegraph report?. Personally, I like the Telegraphs style of factual ( mainly) reporting of political news.
Dee

[robf]

I have given up on any newspapers. When I feel up to it I will watch channel 4 news, which is so far left that I like to think it makes it easier to interpret the middle ground.

[josef k]

Please remember that newspapers don't exist to inform, educate etc. They exist to make money for their owners. A long time ago it was found that the way to do this was to pander to, and stoke, the fears of the reading public. This is why, for example, you see considerable space given to denouncing migrants, the BLM movement, left wing politicians, remainers, young people etc.

If only they would restrict themselves to publishing provable facts then Britain, and the average Brits blood pressure, would be greatly improved. But, lets face it, that just isn't going to happen.

[Chaddy]

I,m old enough to remember TV news emerging in the early nineteen fifties( i remember ours being a 12 inch black and white Bush model ) It was generally believed that newspapers had had their day becuase you had already heard the news earlier on TV so why should you buy one....WRONG,,newspapers sales rocketed,,the reason,,,people wanted to read the full story behind the news they had heard on TV.,,,,,,clever!!!

[Dominic]

People get the newspapers they deserve. That's the bottom line. It is a monster of our own creation.

[WHL]

From Yes Minister


“Don't tell me about the Press. I know *exactly* who reads the papers. The Daily Mirror is read by the people who think they run the country. The Guardian is read by people who think they *ought* to run the country. The Times is read by the people who actually *do* run the country. The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country. The Financial Times is read by people who *own* the country. The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by *another* country. The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think it is.'

"Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?"

"Sun readers don't care *who* runs the country - as long as she's got big tits.”