As a child I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to write comic books and science fiction novels. Later on, I wanted to be a journalist, telling the truth on behalf of the people. I wanted to fight censorship and do good stuff for people. I wanted to catch all those lying politicians and shine a bright light on their bad deeds.
Hopelessly naive.
I used to respect the media. I would read 2 or 3 newspapers a day. I saw the BBC as a bastion of truth, noble, erect and trustworthy, standing tall against injustice, serving our proud British nation and helping out oppressed people around the world. I bought every single bit of the beautiful lie.
The old newspapers were always partial, depending on the whims of Lord Beaverbrook or whoever held the purse strings. Over time, watching the Murdoch empire and the Daily Record, I realised that newsprint was often grubby. The hands of tabloid journalists are often stained red with the ink of their gutter journalism. No matter how hard they scrubbed, sometimes that spot of ink would inconveniently stay there as they were made to account for their writings years later. Sales have fallen and the stature of British print journalism has diminished.
I still held the BBC in high regard. Friends from other countries tell me that they have never trusted the BBC, that they call the BBC the British Brainwashing Corporation. That's pretty sad. It is now clear that the BBC are partial, especially in the recent debate surrounding the Scottish independence referendum. The BBC seems to be actively campaigning against Scottish independence. One suspects that this may be to protect 10% of licence fee income. It does feel like a step away from impartial comment.
The BBC has also been damaged by the horrific realisation that prominent members of the on-screen BBC staff were apparently rather unpleasant in real life. These nasty realities seem to have been common knowledge around the BBC. Nothing was done. A strong institutional reputation was tarnished.
So the media of my childhood has betrayed me. Betrayal is perhaps not the correct way to frame the situation. It is perhaps fairer to say that I have come to see the media in it's true light. My expectations of the BBC and Fleet Street were higher than they could reach. It's not the fault of the media, it was my youthful innocence that was to blame.
In the future I guess the media will be different. The bell has been tolling for newspapers for a while. Print newspapers may not exist in 20 years time. I think we will continue to have good quality written journalism on websites. There will be a lot of dross out there but there will be some pearls too. Unfortunately there is no editor online and you can always find some evidence to back up your maddest prejudices. You must become an editor and you must filter things carefully and avoid becoming a member of the 'tin foil hat' brigade.
The decline of old media will hopefully lead to a maturation of the reader and the development of critical skills. Hopefully with time we will begin to evaluate things and make our own decisions. Sadly, the world is full of conspiracy nuts with poor filters. We may need to rely on our paternalistic media overlords for some time.
That should be OK as long as they don't try to tell us how to vote........
......oh.
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