Tony Blair: "The media is a feral beast."

[JohnRich 4]

News:

Blair: Media is feral beast

British newspapers will and should be subject to some form of new external regulation, the outgoing prime minister, Tony Blair, said yesterday in a broadside that attacked the media for behaving like feral beasts and eschewing balance or proportion.

In a sweeping critique of the industry, Mr Blair claimed newspapers, locked into an increasingly bitter sales war in a 24-hour news environment, indulged in "impact journalism" in which truth and balance had become secondary to the desire for stories to boost sales and be taken up by other media outlets...

But he said the fierce competition for stories had led to the media now hunting in a pack. "In these modes it is like a feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits, but no one dares miss out."

He added that distinctions between comment and news had become so blurred that it was rare to find newspapers reporting precisely what a politician was saying. It was incredibly frustrating, he said, adding that politicians had to act immediately to rebut false charges before they became fact.

The damage that can be done "saps the country's confidence and self-belief", he said. "It undermines its assessment of itself, its institutions and above all, it reduces our capacity to take the right decisions, in the right spirit for our future."

The consequence was a fall in morale in the public services, a loss of trust between politicians and media and even a climate of fear in which those in public life dare not attack the media's sensationalist culture for fear for the media's counterblast.

In a world of 24-hour news and huge diversity of outlets, he said, it is impact that gives a competitive edge. "Of course the accuracy of a story counts. But it is secondary to impact. It is this necessary devotion to impact that is unravelling standards, driving them down, making the diversity of the media not the strength it should be but an impulsion towards sensation above all else."

"News is rarely news unless it generates heat as much as or more than light. Second, attacking motive is far more potent than attacking judgement. It is not enough for someone to make an error. It has to be venal. Conspiratorial."

He also questioned whether papers needed some system of accountability that went beyond sales. He said: "The reality is that the viewers or readers have no objective yardstick to measure what they are being told. In every other walk of life in our society that exercises power, there are external forms of accountability, not least through the media itself.

Source: The Guardian

Wow! Go Tony!

So what kind of "external regulation" is he talking about here?

[NCclimber 0]

Hey John - How about just having one thread titled

Today on Drudge

[shropshire 0]

He wasn't saying this when they were fawning (?) all over him and his spin doctoring.

He's right of course (about the press) but he's used them to the fullest too.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[akarunway 1]

Quote

Hey John - How about just having one thread titled

Today on Drudge

Today on Drudge THIS Tony Blair? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=461611&in_page_id=1770 He scares me more than Bush. No wonder they get along so well.

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[Stumpy 284]

I didn't actually read the article - the Poll was enough.
the idiot has been wrong since the day he was elected. Sounds like another world leader i can think of....

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[Stumpy 284]

Quote

He added that distinctions between comment and news had become so blurred that it was rare to find newspapers reporting precisely what a politician was saying. It was incredibly frustrating, he said, adding that politicians had to act immediately to rebut false charges before they became fact.

Having read it - this sentence made me laugh.
Its more rare to find a politician actually answering a straight question, and then even when you play them a recording of an answer they usually try and say that wasn't what they meant.

Sorry Tony, not a leg to stand on.

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[rushmc 23]

Quote

News:

Blair: Media is feral beast

British newspapers will and should be subject to some form of new external regulation, the outgoing prime minister, Tony Blair, said yesterday in a broadside that attacked the media for behaving like feral beasts and eschewing balance or proportion.

In a sweeping critique of the industry, Mr Blair claimed newspapers, locked into an increasingly bitter sales war in a 24-hour news environment, indulged in "impact journalism" in which truth and balance had become secondary to the desire for stories to boost sales and be taken up by other media outlets...

But he said the fierce competition for stories had led to the media now hunting in a pack. "In these modes it is like a feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits, but no one dares miss out."

He added that distinctions between comment and news had become so blurred that it was rare to find newspapers reporting precisely what a politician was saying. It was incredibly frustrating, he said, adding that politicians had to act immediately to rebut false charges before they became fact.

The damage that can be done "saps the country's confidence and self-belief", he said. "It undermines its assessment of itself, its institutions and above all, it reduces our capacity to take the right decisions, in the right spirit for our future."

The consequence was a fall in morale in the public services, a loss of trust between politicians and media and even a climate of fear in which those in public life dare not attack the media's sensationalist culture for fear for the media's counterblast.

In a world of 24-hour news and huge diversity of outlets, he said, it is impact that gives a competitive edge. "Of course the accuracy of a story counts. But it is secondary to impact. It is this necessary devotion to impact that is unravelling standards, driving them down, making the diversity of the media not the strength it should be but an impulsion towards sensation above all else."

"News is rarely news unless it generates heat as much as or more than light. Second, attacking motive is far more potent than attacking judgement. It is not enough for someone to make an error. It has to be venal. Conspiratorial."

He also questioned whether papers needed some system of accountability that went beyond sales. He said: "The reality is that the viewers or readers have no objective yardstick to measure what they are being told. In every other walk of life in our society that exercises power, there are external forms of accountability, not least through the media itself.

Source: The Guardian

Wow! Go Tony!

So what kind of "external regulation" is he talking about here?

The perfect definition of the Drive by media. Blair absolutly nailed it.

and so many on this site say if you want pure news go to the BBC. BBC must stand for.............

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[SkyChimp 0]

Quote

I didn't actually read the article - the Poll was enough.
the idiot has been wrong since the day he was elected. Sounds like another world leader i can think of....

You mean Kofi Annan. Yeah, I agree.

Does anyone else find it funny that we made a SPORT out of an EMERGENCY PROCEDURE?!?!

[Stumpy 284]

He he nice try. Not who i had in mind and you know it

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[Erroll 80]

Quote

...the idiot has been wrong since the day he was elected.

Does it follow that he was elected by idiots?

[shropshire 0]

<> Not necassarily ... gullable, easliy swayed most likely - he's a smooth talking sharpe dressed, smilling man git and some people are easier to please than others.

Remember we dont have proportional Representation and not all people vote

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

I didn't actually read the article....
the idiot has been wrong since the day he was elected...

You have no logical basis to conclude that he is wrong, if you haven't read the article. Just because you may think he has been wrong in the past on other issues, doesn't mean he is wrong now on this issue, or that he will be wrong on other issues in the future.

Don't look now, but your bias is showing.

[shropshire 0]

I would suggest that we're all biasd..... it#s just the angle and direction of lean that varies.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Stumpy 284]

Quote

Don't look now but your bias is showing

Ha ha thats the funniest thing i've read in a while.

Something about glass houses and stones.....

Edited for spelling

Never try to eat more than you can lift