Now I want you all to go and read this outstanding article on the Daily Telegraph‘s real role in world journalism. Essentially, it’s become a crucial link in the global bullshit cycle. Like the water, nitrogen, and carbon cycles, bullshit circulates around the planet; some actors are bullshit sources and others sinks. The Telegraph‘s role…
Read More idiots round the world stand hand in hand…I don’t think Chris Dillow is right. Chris argues that the whole sordid fiasco about the Disasters Emergency Committee broadcast suggests the BBC should stop doing radio and TV news and put the money into long form reportage and documentaries instead; this, he reckons, would get people to read newspapers, would create a lot of…
Read More all too often it’s just a comic, not much moreThe Grauniad asked 21 of its opinion writers to make predictions for 2009. As a service, and to force Daniel Davies’ hand into starting his planned Predictions-L mailing list, I’ve shorterised each one and reflected briefly on it. The full texts are here. 1) Jackie Ashley thinks the Lib Dems may be powerbrokers in a…
Read More predictions are difficult, except about Martin KettleAh yes, the summer and autumn of 2004. The beaux jours of rightwing horseshit, back when an actual neocon disinformation job was targeting a short who’s who of blogging. It seems to be time for some of those years’ shit to float up to the surface. Here’s Dan Rather, suing CBS. Rather contends not only…
Read More covering the story: a glimpse of the press in actionShouldn’t this story be getting just a little more air? So the editor of the News of the Screws is found by an employment tribunal to have bullied one of his reporters to the point that it seriously affected his health, to have tried to exert influence on his doctor, while both the sports editor…
Read More I am now surrounded by liars, clowns, fools, drunks, sycophants and the desperateThe Register is all squashy on censorship – when it suits one of the million or so bees buzzing around their bonnet. So the Internet Watch Foundation (funded by News Corp) gets its knickers in a twist about a Wikipedia page and accidentally makes Wikipedia verboten for much of the UK. And what do they…
Read More The Register: pathetic tabloid hackeryNo wonder the Indy‘s moving in with the Daily Mail; it’s taken to publishing leaders like this one, a crude bit of hard right culture war stuff which blames the Sharon Matthews case on “welfare”. Yes, really. They also rehearse the old Peter Lilley thing about “single mothers who get pregnant just to jump the…
Read More The Independent: Is OverAn interesting document was turned up in the course of the row about John Brennan, the CIA officer who was the Obama team’s original choice as intelligence chief before he was dropped as being insufficiently opposed to torture, under a volley of criticism from the blogosphere. (“Opposition was mostly confined to liberal blogs,” said the…
Read More Is this the CIA? Is this the IRA? Is this the UDA? No, it’s the Grauniad…It seems that Andrew Gilligan has been stung by the phrase “Bendy Jihad”. So much so that he has devoted a whole column to moaning about it, or rather to moaning about anyone having the cheek to disagree with him. It’s a pity, then, that he couldn’t see his way to attributing his attack correctly,…
Read More Gilligan’s “Ibogaine Frenzy”; Assaults Wrong Man, Screaming NonsenseThe meeting. Two, three, four men who were not the ones you saw at podiums, behind Fox News desks. The man who’s pure evil. Hard men. Men who say ‘flip the switch’ or ‘push the button’ or ‘pull that lever.’ When they were younger, they might have done it themselves. They are the hidden men,…
Read More fear and loathing, on the campaign trail