News Values

[poliphilo]

Now we're being told that the Brazilian man the police shot in Stockwell wasn't wearing a puffa jacket and didn't vault over the ticket barrier to escape.

This is the problem with our rolling 24 hour news services: reporters are so hungry for product they'll accept and process anything that comes their way- conjecture, rumour, misinformation, lies- and the obligation to speak to camera every fifteen minutes means that they don't have time to go check their "facts". More news means worse news.

Comments

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

It also seems to me that we rarely hear much of what is eventually established about these things after proper investigation, because by the time anything is really known, the event is no longer a 'story'. Obviously this case is something of an exception, because the issue is so major, but even so I'll bet that that column-inches and broadcast-minutes devoted to erroneous, early versions of the Stockwell shooting story will far outrank those devoted to actual established facts by the time it's all faded from the public consciousness.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes.

I'm addicted to news. But I almost always come away feeling cheated.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

There are no longer journalists, just word processors, spouting forth anything and everything they hear as "fact". I know, I used to work for the Associated Press in Washington, D.C. I didn't know Woodward and Bernstein, but I knew men like them and I'm proud to say I helped do their research.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

All these scandalous rumours (and more than rumours) swirling round government and no-one in the mainstream media (no-one with an audience) is prepared to break away from the pack and go for the jugular

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Perfect example is the United States, where so many media people have been prepared to report as news anything that the Government has told them is fact. They've actually started to believe it when someone says, "Trust me." Scary.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Tony Blair came into government with this schtick about being "a pretty straight guy" and proceeded to lie like a good'un.

I'm suddenly reminded of an epigram by Humbert Wolfe...

"You cannot hope to bribe or twist
(Thank God) the British journalist.
But seeing what the type will do
Unbribed, there's no occasion to.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Then there's the old joke (?), "How do you know a politician's lying?" "His mouth is moving."

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's good.

What cynics we've all become.....

The scary thing about Blair is that, in spite of all he's done, he really does still believe in his own "straightness". The self-deceit is awesome.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

"Become"? Silly man, I've been a cynic, especially about government, since I was 16 years old. My first job after school was in Washington, D.C. for the Associated Press during the Johnson Administration. I learned cynicism from the very best.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I used to an idealist. I always knew that the current incumbent of the White House or 10 Downing Street was a crook, but lived in hope that "come the revolution" we'd aquire honest leaders.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

oh oh thank you for saying that. I've noticed since CNN became a staple that the news tends to be - shall we say, less 'accurate'? Or barring that, more little tiny factoids that don't need to be told find their way into the news.

Oh...I guess you said that above - the obligation to speak to camera every fifteen minutes means that they don't have time to go check their "facts"

Here on the local news, the last two nights I've heard "In a story aired EXCLUSIVELY on Channel 5" and "Because of facts heard ONLY on Channel 9"..in connection to a news story about a woman who was killed by her boyfriend.

I swear. I've gotten cable taken out. My next step might be to only use the television for DVDS and VCR tapes.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I watch a lot of news. Some channels are better than others. Channel 4 has an hour long news programme at 7.00 which treats subjects with a bit of depth, but I'm very disillusioned with the BBC.

[cataptromancer.livejournal.com]

Where is this being covered? I can't find anything in the new york times today.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I heard it on the radio I think.

Of course there's no way of being sure that these latest statements are any truer than the ones they contradict.

Reality News

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Once upon a time, a Press card/pass meant something. These days, I've noticed both the Beeb (especially) and Channel 4 running the "were you there/send us your stories/photos" line on their web sites. It's not that I've ever held journalists in especially high regard, but I wonder whether the instant gratification all round from the vox populi in our reality TV age causes some of this.

People make mistakes, and they also try to rationalise what they observe. So it's natural to hold on to a report that says the man had an unusually bulky jacket and jumped the barrier, and this report would drown out other accounts (which would no doubt be mutually inconsistent in any case).

Re: Reality News

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's quite startling how these days there's film of almost everything that happens. They were reporting the tornado in Birmingham this morning and- sure enough- someone had used their camera phone to shoot footage of roofs blowing off.