General Chat

A report on the radio said that knife crime "appears" to be worse than statistics show. It also said that x number of injuries treated in A&E departments were caused by blades. What it didn't say was how many of those injuries could have been, for example, someone cutting themselves when preparing veg for a meal and it being bad enough to need medical treatment. The implication was that all blade injuries were caused by fighting using knives.

Maybe the information given out was related purely to stabbings, maybe I'm been cynical in thinking that the story was been "sensationalised" and made to sound worse than the reality. Is it just me are do others take what the media says with a large grain of salt?

I believe only 10% and then I treat that with scepticism.

I always want to find out the truth - I keep in mind that the idea on the media is to either sell newspapers or entice viewers.

Many stories on even the BBC are found to be absolutely untrue - like the discovery of a pwder that could help limbs grow back...lol. This one was on the TV and in the papers - they all fell for it!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7354458.stm

Just look at the panic caused by the 1938 broadcast of 'War of the Worlds'......although later found to be less than imagined, a still sizeable number of people flew into a total panic!

I have spoken of this before...
Last year my very close family were featured on every newspaper, and television article for two or three days...
'quotes'.... which were untrue.....were 'quoted'
'facts'....... which were NOT facts were given...
as there were only a few of us 'privey' to the real facts, they made it up......

At one time a reporter. even walked into an house, uninvited....
I dont believe any garbage the newspapers/telly news report, knowing that when they did have the opportunity a few months later to print something like the real truth.... they still ommitted it...putting an entirely different case forward to the general public!!!!

There was even a thread on these boards about it.... which members commented on.... taking information from the media......
cmd x

I suppose the problem is that other than personal knowledge we have no other way of knowing anything other than from newspapers, TV reports etc. So what do you suggest? No reporting of anything? Or stricter reporting 'rules'?

The problem is, once reported even though subsequently retracted, apologised for and fined, the old adage, 'no smoke without fire' will be how the general public view it.

Ann
Glos

Eldrick where do you find out the truth??

I have an article somewhere about the 'War of the Worlds' I wonder how many people would panic now compared to then.

Cmd how awful for you, having all those lies printed for the whole country to read/hear about. I guess you learnt who your true friends where then.

I think all that is required is a healthy acceptance that just because it is printed in a newspaper or seen on the TV doesn't mean it is a fact.

More responsible reporting would certainly help - but lets face it. People are inherently lazy and most would rather accept something at face value rather than bother to check it out on, say, the internet or even, god forbid, by using their own common sense and rationality!

Ann I have no suggestions. I do believe in freedom of the press to a certain extent....I just wish I could believe what they were saying instead of taking it all with a large grain of salt. What happened to responsible reporting of the facts? Did that ever exist or is it just a rose tinted mismemory?

Dearest Ann,
What annoyed me is that both the parties concerned, were advised not to make statements to the media concerning the case.....YET...
the media, instead of waiting, decided to print lies....and made up facts....
What difference would a few months have made to the public... NONE...they were none the wiser to the issue....
What difference did it make to the family and friends concerned....A LOT......
cmdx

I think there has always been embellishment of the facts Julie but I have a feeling that reporting is 'pushed' to the limit these days.

Trouble is Eldrick, not every one has access to the internet so where else can they go for the truth? And would they always get the truth on the internet?

Ann
Glos

CMD, awful for your family/friends. Was it taken further?

Ann
Glos

I think it has always been pretty much the same - sensationalism wins ahead of facts. Why spoil a good story with the truth? Why let facts get in the way of a headline?

It isn't fair to tarnish them all - behind the headlines there is some excellent reporting being done and long may it continue. Freedom of the press is vital for the continuation of freedom of society. But it should be done responsibly.

Look how the sanctimonious tabloid press - The Sun, etc. hand out their own homespun morality then you turn to page 3....or the numerous titillating stories masquerading as serious reporting.....and people buy into it and believe it. The way they idolise and portray the sad vacuous celebrities whos only claim to fame is they appeared on Big Brother.....

I could rant on about the press all day!

Read the headlines,Read the last word,,make your own assumpitions for the middle bit,:}}}

I dont buy any newspapers or magazines,

Newspapers coverage is all about word space per page,or story......!
But a memebr on here is/was a seasoned reporter so maybe will have another slant on it,?

Eldrick, you say there is some good reporting being done so how do we distinguish good from bad, fact from fiction. Are you saying that the good reporting is in particular newspapers, or is the 'fictitious' type of reporting spread across the board.
how do we know what or who to believe?

Ann
Glos

Kay, When you are retired you are a bit out of touch with the world so i find reading a newspaper makes me keep up with things.

Ann
Glos

Tbh I don't always have time to read a newspaper, so I look at the BBC website at some of the main stories but as Eldrick as pointed out even they aren't perfect.

I don't buy national newspapers because they are mainly twaddle. The local ones are better and usual based on fact but even they can get it wrong so I usually only glance at the free ones.
I think the tv news has gone downhill since they started doing the 24hrs a day broadcasts. It seems to me they dont have the same time to investigate before they announce it.

What I find so annoying, is when a story has been printed, and they find out it is not true. Instead of having this in big letters, they put their retraction of the story in small print in a place, hardly anyone ever looks.

Mo

Dearest Ann,
Yes. its still 'ongoing' and being dealt with...and I have promised to keep my 'gob' shut to a degree.which is why I am a bit 'cagey' about giving to many details away at the moment.....
Although, dont worry when the time is right....these boards will be the first place I shall post on.!!!..

Elderick... the 'SCUM' newspaper. is the instigator of the story I have just mentioned...
did'nt someone once call it 'the bastion of interlectaul arguement' (sorry I am not a good speller)
cmdx

Ann,

But I know you will not be mislead by lots of stuff you read,you are a clever lady,:}

Ann - it is not up to me to say how someone distinguishes between good and bad, right and wrong, truth and fiction or whatever.

I use my life experience, knowledge and common sense. I would not elevate myself to a position of 'guru' whereby I tell people how to differentiate between anything - it is up to them.

People will believe any old rubbish - thats human nature. Thats why people buy magic slimming pills and snake oil! Thats why people phone psychic hotlines from the back of newspapers that 'expose' psychics! Thats why people fall for 419 scams, 'send me ten pounds and I'll tell you how to get rich' and all the other scams that abound! And the con men and reporters know it only too well.

Human nature is to believe and to be greedy. Thats the reality of life and nothing will ever change that.

You can hit people over the head with truth and facts and if they dont want to believe it, then they won't - and that is their perogative.