4 ms·

My hot take: there are barely any popular news media that aren't owned or operated by Tory-friendly interests, or at least aren't apathetic towards Tory scandal

My hot take: there are barely any popular news media that aren't owned or operated by Tory-friendly interests, or at least aren't apathetic towards Tory scandals. I always thought that the Daily Prophet (of Harry Potter fame) was a parody of certain British press that really want overboard. Now that I've experienced British politics as a young adult, I am astounded by how much it wasn't a parody at all. The appeal to emotion is definitely real for the lower-end press, and the spin is there in almost every publication.

simonh 5y ago
There's the BBC of course. They're actually pretty middle of the road, but overall I'd say there is a distinct left lean. Not enough to put me off, but enough to wind up 'proper' tories.
- fnord123 5y ago
  > overall I'd say there is a distinct left lean Depends on the topic. Since having had Tory donors and Tory politicians appointed to various positions, their domestic politics reporting has become decidedly pro-Tory.
  - simonh 5y ago
    There's variation for sure. I don't mind a lean, we're all human. I'd say they are mostly leftish, with a scatter of those on the right. I can adjust for that. They're one of the most trustworthy news sources on the planet, IMHO. Them and The Economist, but maybe I'm the one with a lean in that case although on a slightly different axis from the usual political left/right.
- selfhoster11 5y ago
  BBC reporting is very selective. Some stories weren't covered by them at all.
  - simonh 5y ago
    All reporting is selective. Nobody can report everything, and you can't afford to waste your audience's attention.
- thorin 5y ago
  Well, they DID lean left, but now they've been pretty much bought by the tories and their funding depends on sucking up to them.
  - gadders 5y ago
    They have always leant left, and still do. They just didn't like Jeremy Corbyn much. Being anti-Corbyn is not being anti-Labour.
    - thorin 5y ago
      I'm not sure they like Kier Starmer that much either, I don't think Corbyn is really relevant now anyway, unless you are strongly for or against momentum. I'm thinking more of holding the government to account at the forefront of the BBC news page (it may happen on radio 4, but not many people see that relatively). During/since covid BBC has acted as a communication funnel directly and without criticism which would not have happened in the 80s/90s. Bring back the original Spitting Image, Yes, Minister, Boys From the Blackstuff!
wisty 5y ago
I presume this is partly because Tory supporters are more likely to watch the news on the television, listen to the radio or read dead tree newspapers so they kind of have to pander to them. For similar reasons, most political comedians seem to be left-leaning.
revolvingocelot 5y ago
>there are barely any popular news media that aren't owned or operated by Tory-friendly interests Correct! In Canada, "Postmedia" fills this role. They own essentially all of the important papers in Canada, and are 66% owned by an American hedge fund (Chatham Asset Management), and 22% owned by an American billionaire noted for his successful insider trading (Leon Cooperman). [0] Postmedia felt that their papers needed to be more "reliably conservative", and so in 2018 appointed a dude who'd just successfully fought off a unionization drive, Kevin Libin, to take charge of all their papers' political reporting and analysis, to ensure they'd be more friendly to the poor shivering right wing. Their only meaningful competition, ideologically, was the Toronto Star as owned by Torstar, a corporation deployed in 1958 after the province of Ontario decided that charities couldn't operate newspapers. The Toronto Star, once a relatively left-wing voice known for its investigative journalism, was controlled by the families of the original charity trustees, but in 2020 it was sold to a private investment firm! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmedia_Network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmedia_Network [1] https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/08/27/opinion/postmedias-employees-should-stand-their-right-wing-bosses https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/08/27/opinion/postmedi...
macksd 5y ago
Not that it's any consolation, but it's definitely not a flaw unique to Britain. I think this is just increasingly the universal norm in our society. Mainstream news in the US is, as I'm sure you know, also pretty much entirely slanted one way or the other and appealing to emotion. Headlines that make value judgments, the choice in what to emphasize and what to ignore, etc. And I say mainstream news like the alternative media is any better, but it doesn't seem that way to me. World news always seems very refreshing to me in this regard: BBC World, Al Jazeera, Reuters. But yes, national and local news just seems to be a cesspool in many places and spreading.
- pydry 5y ago
  "World news" is more often slanted by what is reported rather than how. BBC world news seems to focus quite a lot on Russia, for instance, maybe in response to RT's focus on UK. Al jazeera also cant be trusted on anything involving qatar, assuming it even reports the story.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
    I think your takes on BBC World News and Al Jazeera don't really count for much unless they're based on analysis of the full content of these organizations. I listen to a moderate amount of BBC World News, and I've almost never heard Russia come up. However, my listening habits barely cover 10% of their output. Maybe you just happen to tune into some subsection that does indeed focus on Russia, which seems entirely possible.
    - pydry 5y ago
      Today's Russia story seems to be https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59299101 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59299101 It's a bit lower down the front page than usual. IIRC yesterday their top story had a bit about putin being accused of orchestrating the migrant crisis in belarus. There's almost always something every day. Often they're not really very newsworthy which made me think that there might be a quota or something. Other times it's registering an official US/UK disapproval of something they did as above.
Tsiklon 5y ago
As I understand it, the general concensus is that the newspapers in the UK are ghastly in much the same way as TV news is in the US. Whereas TV news in the UK, isn’t nearly as horrendous as the US.
gadders 5y ago
Have you not heard of the Guardian?
- selfhoster11 5y ago
  It's a lone voice, and has its own biases.
- thorin 5y ago
  We have, but it's kind of a lone voice in terms of the mainstream, which makes it stand out and look vaguely ridiculous at times. The I / Independent was slightly more middle of the road I thought (about 10 years ago) but it might have changed. One problem of course is that young-middle aged people barely read newspapers.
atc 5y ago
You’re just not looking properly. The Guardian, BBC, GB News are some of the biggest publications and they are definitely NOT pro-Tory

simonh 5y ago

There's the BBC of course. They're actually pretty middle of the road, but overall I'd say there is a distinct left lean. Not enough to put me off, but enough to wind up 'proper' tories.

fnord123 5y ago
> overall I'd say there is a distinct left lean Depends on the topic. Since having had Tory donors and Tory politicians appointed to various positions, their domestic politics reporting has become decidedly pro-Tory.
- simonh 5y ago
  There's variation for sure. I don't mind a lean, we're all human. I'd say they are mostly leftish, with a scatter of those on the right. I can adjust for that. They're one of the most trustworthy news sources on the planet, IMHO. Them and The Economist, but maybe I'm the one with a lean in that case although on a slightly different axis from the usual political left/right.
selfhoster11 5y ago
BBC reporting is very selective. Some stories weren't covered by them at all.
- simonh 5y ago
  All reporting is selective. Nobody can report everything, and you can't afford to waste your audience's attention.
thorin 5y ago
Well, they DID lean left, but now they've been pretty much bought by the tories and their funding depends on sucking up to them.
- gadders 5y ago
  They have always leant left, and still do. They just didn't like Jeremy Corbyn much. Being anti-Corbyn is not being anti-Labour.
  - thorin 5y ago
    I'm not sure they like Kier Starmer that much either, I don't think Corbyn is really relevant now anyway, unless you are strongly for or against momentum. I'm thinking more of holding the government to account at the forefront of the BBC news page (it may happen on radio 4, but not many people see that relatively). During/since covid BBC has acted as a communication funnel directly and without criticism which would not have happened in the 80s/90s. Bring back the original Spitting Image, Yes, Minister, Boys From the Blackstuff!

wisty 5y ago

I presume this is partly because Tory supporters are more likely to watch the news on the television, listen to the radio or read dead tree newspapers so they kind of have to pander to them. For similar reasons, most political comedians seem to be left-leaning.

revolvingocelot 5y ago

>there are barely any popular news media that aren't owned or operated by Tory-friendly interests Correct! In Canada, "Postmedia" fills this role. They own essentially all of the important papers in Canada, and are 66% owned by an American hedge fund (Chatham Asset Management), and 22% owned by an American billionaire noted for his successful insider trading (Leon Cooperman). [0] Postmedia felt that their papers needed to be more "reliably conservative", and so in 2018 appointed a dude who'd just successfully fought off a unionization drive, Kevin Libin, to take charge of all their papers' political reporting and analysis, to ensure they'd be more friendly to the poor shivering right wing. Their only meaningful competition, ideologically, was the Toronto Star as owned by Torstar, a corporation deployed in 1958 after the province of Ontario decided that charities couldn't operate newspapers. The Toronto Star, once a relatively left-wing voice known for its investigative journalism, was controlled by the families of the original charity trustees, but in 2020 it was sold to a private investment firm! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmedia_Network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmedia_Network [1] https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/08/27/opinion/postmedias-employees-should-stand-their-right-wing-bosses https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/08/27/opinion/postmedi...

macksd 5y ago

Not that it's any consolation, but it's definitely not a flaw unique to Britain. I think this is just increasingly the universal norm in our society. Mainstream news in the US is, as I'm sure you know, also pretty much entirely slanted one way or the other and appealing to emotion. Headlines that make value judgments, the choice in what to emphasize and what to ignore, etc. And I say mainstream news like the alternative media is any better, but it doesn't seem that way to me. World news always seems very refreshing to me in this regard: BBC World, Al Jazeera, Reuters. But yes, national and local news just seems to be a cesspool in many places and spreading.

pydry 5y ago
"World news" is more often slanted by what is reported rather than how. BBC world news seems to focus quite a lot on Russia, for instance, maybe in response to RT's focus on UK. Al jazeera also cant be trusted on anything involving qatar, assuming it even reports the story.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  I think your takes on BBC World News and Al Jazeera don't really count for much unless they're based on analysis of the full content of these organizations. I listen to a moderate amount of BBC World News, and I've almost never heard Russia come up. However, my listening habits barely cover 10% of their output. Maybe you just happen to tune into some subsection that does indeed focus on Russia, which seems entirely possible.
  - pydry 5y ago
    Today's Russia story seems to be https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59299101 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59299101 It's a bit lower down the front page than usual. IIRC yesterday their top story had a bit about putin being accused of orchestrating the migrant crisis in belarus. There's almost always something every day. Often they're not really very newsworthy which made me think that there might be a quota or something. Other times it's registering an official US/UK disapproval of something they did as above.

Tsiklon 5y ago

As I understand it, the general concensus is that the newspapers in the UK are ghastly in much the same way as TV news is in the US. Whereas TV news in the UK, isn’t nearly as horrendous as the US.

gadders 5y ago

Have you not heard of the Guardian?

selfhoster11 5y ago
It's a lone voice, and has its own biases.
thorin 5y ago
We have, but it's kind of a lone voice in terms of the mainstream, which makes it stand out and look vaguely ridiculous at times. The I / Independent was slightly more middle of the road I thought (about 10 years ago) but it might have changed. One problem of course is that young-middle aged people barely read newspapers.

atc 5y ago

You’re just not looking properly. The Guardian, BBC, GB News are some of the biggest publications and they are definitely NOT pro-Tory