Listening to the 9-00am bulletin on Radio 4 this morning, it was surprising to say the least to hear the first item being something that has not happened yet! Baroness Warsi, Tory Vice Chairman, was reported as making a speech ‘later today’ and pointing up a couple of issues to be covered. This is not News. It is a trailer. The Baroness may change her mind and delete one or more key points from her address. Once delivered, only then does it become ‘News.’ So why was it lead item on a serious radio station?
Compare and contrast with the deafening silence in the media about a letter leaked to RTE, the Irish broadcasting station, confirming the Vatican’s involvement in the cover-up of child abuse. The men in frocks clearly have friends in very high places....
Private Eye smugly had a ‘Quote of the Week’ in their latest issue which is relevant to this subject.
“Whether it is consultancies and directorships for MPs, the revolving door between top state officials, government adviser and business corporations, the regulation racket when it comes to the City, the railways and gas and electricity distribution or the massive corruption in Britain’s financial, armaments, construction and other sectors, Private Eye reports more in in one fortnightly issue than in the rest of Britain’s mass media together.”
Robert Griffiths (general secretary of the Communist Party of Britain), Morning Star, 20/12/2010
Quite a sentence. Accurate and damning. Private Eye get most of their stories from frustrated journalists. Listening to this mornings bulletin, it is easy to understand their frustration.
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