Re: Wretched bl**dy yanks!
Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:59 am
In my experience, most of what goes in the press is a poor approximation to the truth. I say that on the basis of various experiences where I have known the real situation and have had to explain the same to friends when they have seen the garbled version in the press.ben ashton wrote:How many people are regularly annoyed with the content of their usual / preferred media intake?
How many actually take any action to express their opinion through letters / emails / switching to alternative sources? The first is a regular occurrence for me, the second merely a 'rarely gotten round to' aspiration.
I did write once when I had the misfortune to be holed up in a hotel in Panama during the US invasion in 1989.
It was bad enough seeing CNN giving a biased overview of the situation, but when Noriega moved into the Papal Nunciatura next to the hotel (I have some video footage of when the US surrounded the place), the Telegraph correspondent wrote a load of rubbish about what happened. My letter of complaint, clarification etc was never printed nor acknowledged.
I was also upset that when the press arrived, anyone who had a room overviewing the Papal Nunciatura was moved so that the press could move in.
My current grouse is about both the police and press concerning my sister-in-laws sister, who went missing in early November. The press have only reported on farms being dug up etc, but there is no mention of family problems, although this may be at the request of the family/police.The police have picked up the husband twice, and released him twice, falsely raising hopes of the family that the disappearance might be resolved.
Picking him up once is part of the investigation, the second time must have been playing to the gallery as it resolved nothing apart from upsetting the family.
Not a happy situation but most complaints are treated with a pat on the head, unless, curiously, one can get a newspaper interested. There is a very good Roald Dahl short story on the power of the press, but the title escapes me for the moment.