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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.56
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 06:00 pm:   

Check out the online metro page 10 today

http://e-edition.metro.co.uk/2010/03/12

They've got a big story with the eye-catching headline "Teen mums milking the system"

Have they got new evidence from official sources that prove this claim? Have they got documentary proof that girls really are getting pregnant for a bump up the housing ladder?

No. Course they fucking haven't.

They've run a survey of 2000 people and about two thirds (ie just over 1266) of those BELIEVE that teen mums are milking the system. So what they've got is the bigoted views of not much more than half of a small survey of people.

This, it seems, is sufficient cause to use a banner headline stating it as a fact. Forget that fact that one third of their survey have a more reasonable, balanced view, they can be ignored safely for the lunatics they clearly are.

Charlie Brooker's newswipe show recently did a piece about the media creating their own stories for their own agendas. I don't think you can get clearer proof than this "story" that he's dead right.
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Jonathan (Jonathan)
Username: Jonathan

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 91.143.178.131
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 06:02 pm:   

This be one of the reasons I refused to read the Metro when I used to take the train to work. Books are the way to go rather than read a wanky fee tabloid.
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.56
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 06:13 pm:   

Whoops,you can tell it's Friday. My maths is usually better than that. 2/3 of 2000 is 1333 not 1266.

Did you mean Free tabloid Jonathan?
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.27.30.20
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 06:31 pm:   

I'm a bit resistant to shutting ourselves off from any form of news on the basis of assumiing (even if correctly) that it's all biased. Better surely to be partially informed and sharp enough to root out the nonsense than to live in a cultural vacuum.

However, these guys paint a pretty dark picture of even enlightened mainstream journalism (ie, that which isn't obviously tasked with an odious agenda): http://www.medialens.org/
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.106
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 06:44 pm:   

I stopped reading newspapers and watching the TV news about 2 years ago. I still know more or less what's going on in the world, but I am now unburdened from every middle-class fuckwit's opinions about it all.

The sense of release is immense.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.27.30.20
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 06:58 pm:   

So where do you get your information?
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Ian Alexander Martin (Iam)
Username: Iam

Registered: 10-2009
Posted From: 64.180.64.74
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 07:03 pm:   

Chris Fowler recommended a book on his blog about a year ago which covered this topic and, as it sounded interesting, I read it. Flat Earth News (an Award-Winning Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media) by journalist Nick Davies is revelatory without coming within shouting distance of tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorists. Here's some details: http://www.librarything.com/work/4869387/book/46935858

The key to understanding the contents of newspapers and news broadcasts is that they're in the business of ratings (the higher they are the more they can charge for adverts) and engendering reaction ('entertainment', in a sense; which drives ratings). The recent ruling of the press review board about the 'opinion column' covering the death of the pop star in Spain is a classic situation where the watchers watch themselves, see nothing wrong as it's not diverted from their modus operandi, and so declared the character assassination and bigoted statements "fair comment". Couple this with the need to create a solid line of profit — and one which is constantly improved, no matter how healthy it already was — and suddenly you have fewer reporters being paid for more and more output, which then creates sloppy, un-checked, and down-right incorrect repetition of media releases and politically-biased statements as "fact". Sadly, it's rampant in Canada as well, albeit less pronounced.

We've not watched broadcast TV for almost a decade now — the television being in our basement lounge is a help as it's out of sight, and we stopped paying for the connection about a year before that — but we still take the paper and listen to CBC radio most of the day. One can't ignore the world, but one can choose the times to let bits in.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.106
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 07:16 pm:   

I pull my information out of my arse, just like the media companies.

Seriously, though, I just scan the headlines. If there's something I want to know more about I do some selective online research. Obviously, I still have to read stuff that has a bias buy this way I get to pick and choose. Usually, though, you can get the news by looking at headlines: they tell you what's happening, and you don't have to read the opinion piece beneath.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.106
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 07:17 pm:   

One can't ignore the world, but one can choose the times to let bits in.

That's exactly it Ian. Bravo, sir, for being so succinct.
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.176.100.26
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 07:19 pm:   

There was a married singer a few years back who was asked by a journalist if he was having an affair.
He said no - headline in crappy tabloid - "Singer denies affair"...

Brooker for PM.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.27.30.20
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 07:24 pm:   

As I said, better surely to be partially informed and sharp enough to root out the nonsense than to live in a cultural vacuum.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.106
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 08:00 pm:   

Yes.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.27.30.20
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 08:05 pm:   

Rick Wakeman, Jon Anderson . . . lots of mythic references and squeaky synths.

Yes.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.106
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 08:13 pm:   

Well, I am the owner of a lonely heart. And a gregarious knob.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.27.30.20
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 08:21 pm:   

Do you keep it in a jar on your desk?
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.27.30.20
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 08:23 pm:   

(The heart, not the knob.)
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.106
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 08:25 pm:   

No, I keep it in a jar on John Probert's desk.
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Karim Ghahwagi (Karim)
Username: Karim

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 80.167.172.190
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 09:45 pm:   

What about the knob- is that tugged away somewhere in John Probert's tower as well?
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Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 82.38.75.85
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 10:02 pm:   

I think you mean "tucked", Karim - not "tugged". Or maybe you do mean "tugged"?

And as for Lord P's tower .. well, I really don't want to think about that!
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.106
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 10:03 pm:   

Lord Probert's Tugging Tower. Not a fairground ride to let the kiddies on, believe me...
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Colin Leslie (Blackabyss)
Username: Blackabyss

Registered: 02-2010
Posted From: 86.132.5.239
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 10:05 pm:   

Good grief, it's turned into a Carry on film
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Ian Alexander Martin (Iam)
Username: Iam

Registered: 10-2009
Posted From: 64.180.64.74
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 11:55 pm:   


quote:

That's exactly it Ian. Bravo, sir, for being so succinct.


Ladies and gentlemen, make a note of that phrase praising me "for being so succinct". It has never been made before, and is unlikely to ever again be made again before the end of the world or fall of the Probert Empire (whichever comes first).
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.157.19.172
Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 12:15 am:   

'I stopped reading newspapers and watching the TV news about 2 years ago'
Me too! If you can tell from the tone of a headline which newspaper it's from you know something's wrong. Does that make sense?
I hate the papers, and bbc news. Five is ok because it feels impartial, fact-based. But the rest? They're like us writers, making thing up because they can't do anything else. I actually think they're an enemy.
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Steve Bacon (Stevebacon)
Username: Stevebacon

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 90.210.209.136
Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 12:34 am:   

Without doubt, they have too much power and influence. If we let them.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.81.153
Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 02:18 am:   

The Metro is providing a valuable service, painstakingly making a hard copy of the internet.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.44.110
Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 04:11 am:   

One has to read/watch the news in order to keep up with what's going on around the world. Obviously I don't always know if what I'm reading is 100% accurate, and in some cases it will probably be biased or exaggerated, but, as Gary said, better to be informed than not, surely.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.157.19.172
Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 08:54 am:   

If it's news that matters I'll hear it from people, catch it on the radio.
I found when coming back from holiday that the happiness I felt during it dissipated the minute I started listening to the news again, something I don't do during holidays. I realised the news got me really down. I dunno, maybe we're meant to feel bad.
Saw a horrible facility on the yahoo home page; 'trending news stories.' Trending!
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.106
Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 09:38 am:   

It's amazing how much news you can pick up without having to read papers/watch TV news reports. Real news, not some idiot's opinion of it.

Radio news isn't bad; their time slots are small so they haven't much time to give an opinion.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 61.216.51.61
Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 12:42 pm:   

The news gets me down too. I don't keep up with it half as much as I used to, to be honest. I still think it's healthy in small doses, though (as long as you have a functioning bullshit-detector).
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.106
Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 01:37 pm:   

It isn't the news that gets me down, but the tits reading it (well, giving their spin on it). News is essential; the opinions of some overeducated coiffered nonce isn't.
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 86.29.181.60
Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 01:44 pm:   

I get all my news from the Ramsey Campbell Message Boards.

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