Tail Bloater
What a perceptive fellow (or fellowette) you are, but before we get carried away on a tide of mutual admiration I will say society gets the press/media it deserves. The Mirror and the rest write such stuff because they know it is what the Man On The Clapham Omnibus wants to read and believe. Individuals stick with newspapers they like because they are comfortable with what they see inside, not because they know the contents will be accurate. Ask yourselves, when was the last time you deliberately chose a newspaper with which you were unfamiliar, or knew to have a different political stance to your own? Student journo's are taught to daily read all available titles and then decide where the truth lies. Try it. It can give you a whole new perspective on current events.
Flying Lawyer made the point that the tabloids sell many times more newspapers than the quality broadsheets. I will not bore everyone with a condensed media studies course - though I'm happy to start a new thread on the subject if there is an audience - but, in a sense, it is futile to blame the Mirror for writing the sort of stuff people want to buy. It is a business too. The fact its news is all tosh is largely irrelevant.
MPs like Paul Keetch, on the other hand...what's his excuse?
Dantruck
(aka Dan Coughlan)
Last edited by Dantruck; 12th March 2003 at 14:54.